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It wasn't until the next morning that Gabriella ran into Hunter again. She was walking to A.P. English with Taylor and saw him coming from the opposite direction. He smiles as he spots them and meets them in front of the door to their class. "So we meet again," he says, causing Gabriella and Taylor to smile back at him. "I guess I should start thanking the fates for making me so ambitious to try to get college credits early so I could share these classes with you."
"Stop being such a flirt," Gabriella replies, walking into class and taking her seat next to Taylor who is giving her one of those looks that spoke volumes without words. She responds with her own look which Hunter interprets as girl talk as he sits two rows over from the two after talking to the teacher and hearing the bell ring. The period passes pretty fast for all three of them and soon, the dismissal bell for the period rings. Hunter pulls out his new schedule again and leaves the room to try to find the class on his own this time.
"Gabriella, you are so flirting with him," Taylor says to Gabriella as they walk behind Hunter who is clearly lost. "Not that I blame you, but don't you think Troy will be upset?"
Gabriella sighs at this comment. "Truthfully, he probably would be and I really am not trying to flirt but it kind of just happens. Hunter is a natural charmer and I don't realize that I am flirting until I actually am. I have to make a more conscious decision not to do it anymore, I agree."
Satisfied with her answer, Taylor lets the subject drop as they reach their classroom for Latin 3 and drop off their homework in the basket on the teacher's desk. They take their seats which are unfortunately on opposite sides of the room since the teacher arranged it by first name alphabetically, ending any other conversation the two girls would have had with each other.
After Art History is over, Troy rushes out of the room, not even waiting for Chad, who was also in the class, and runs to his locker. There, he dumps his books, takes out the single red rose which somehow survived all morning there, and grabs his lunch to then make a mad dash for Gabriella's locker.
All the rushing is well worth it as he sees a huge smile spread across her face as Gabriella sees Troy leaning against her locker with a single rose and a sweet smile. "Aww, Troy, that is so sweet of you," she says, giving him a kiss before taking the rose from him. "You ran all the way here to be here waiting didn't you?"
"How is it that you read me so well and know me to such extent Gabriella?" Troy asks in amazement. "Somehow you just got into my brain or something."
"Or something," she responds, laughing at his face. "Now come on, it's time to eat and I am ravenous!"
Troy grabs her uninjured hand as they walk to the cafeteria and a familiar table they use on Red days when the whole group of friends are together. They sit down and fall into a comfortable conversation with the gang that is there while digging into their lunches.
"Hey, can we make room for one more?" Sharpay asks. "I found Hunter looking for a group to eat with and I thought it would be nice if we welcomed him to our table, the integrated group table."
Hunter lets out a laugh. "Integrated group table?"
Taylor nods her head in confirmation. "And we aren't talking ethnicity here superstar. We are talking high school cliques. I may as well go through this with you as I introduce you to everyone." Hunter takes a seat next to Gabriella but gives his attention to Taylor right away. "So, we have Sharpay, who you walked with here, who is the resident Drama diva, but we love her anyway for some reason…"
"Hey!" Sharpay protests with a laugh. "I am not that bad Hunter, really."
"Yeah, post-Zeke!" Chad jokes, earning a glare from Sharpay and a kick under the table from Zeke.
"Moving on," Taylor says, gaining control of the conversation again. "To Sharpay's left is her boyfriend Zeke who is on the varsity basketball team but bakes the best desserts ever. Next to him is Martha who is considered to be a study geek but loves to dance. Then there is Ryan who is Sharpay's brother and also a resident drama enthusiast. Kelsi is next to him who is our musician and composer. Jason is next to her who is also on the varsity basketball team. Then there's Chad who is my boyfriend and also on the varsity basketball team. Of course there is me, then next to me is someone I don't think you have met yet at all. This is Troy, our varsity basketball captain and then next to you, well I don't think I need to describe her hobbies to give you the picture."
Hunter laughs and sees Gabriella blush a little. "Gabriella, the intelligent girl who to my understanding competes in the scholastic decathlon with you Taylor and is also in the musicales with Sharpay, Ryan, and Kelsi right?"
"Wow, am I that easy to peg?" Gabriella asks.
"No, just gathered that from all our conversations. Remember, actor here. I have learned to absorb all I can and retain it quick! But I would agree with Taylor's description. This is a group of friends that crosses the normal high school cliques, which is really cool. Guess I just add to the mix just by sitting with you. Would I be better off going to the hardcore acting group only?" he asks, teasing the people he had already gotten to know over the past day and a half. In truth, Hunter really didn't warm up to people that easily and therefore didn't want to go filter through acts and ploys to find another group of potential friends at his new school.
"Not at all, stay," Ryan invites, ignoring the glare he got from a few of the guys. "The more the merrier!"
"Cool," Hunter replies, biting into his sandwich. "So, when are the auditions for the fall musicale?"
Sharpay's face lights up at the mere mention of the musicale. "Actually, the auditions are this afternoon. Thinking of joining?" she asks, intrigued that he would even think of doing a high school production after all his success.
"Maybe. I'm assuming you and Ryan both are. Gabriella, are you going to be auditioning?" Hunter asks, turning his attention back to the girl sitting next to him. "I would need a partner for the lead audition right?"
"Not necessarily," Kelsi supplies, becoming uneasy with the tension that is slowly developing at the table. "You can always sing by yourself. I'm sure Darbus wouldn't mind your case."
Before Gabriella could answer, Troy speaks up and wraps his arm around Gabriella's shoulders possessively. "Actually, Gabriella and I are going to be auditioning together this afternoon."
"I thought you had basketball practice," Gabriella responds, confused over the change of heart. "Isn't that what you told me the other day?"
"Well yeah, I have to talk to coach about it but I'm pretty sure he'll let me audition with my girlfriend. We just have to work around the schedules for practice and rehearsals like we did for the winter one, assuming we make it in."
Everyone stays silent, watching the three, with Gabriella literally in the middle. "I guess that's it then, I'll audition by myself," Hunter says, laughing a little inside himself at Troy's possessive nature. 'That is certainly interesting; I never would have pegged Gabriella to be with a guy who dominated like that.'
"Okay, with that settled, who wants a chocolate chip cookie?" Zeke asks, hoping to break the moment, which he is successful in as everyone reaches for the plate and munches on the cookies happily.
Gabriella, although enjoying the cookie, is still a bit disturbed by what just happened. She checks her watch and sees they have about 15 minutes more until the bell to go to their next class which Troy and she shared, PE. "Troy, can we go talk?" she asks, letting her facial expression tell Troy this was serious.
Troy nods his head and the two grab what is remaining of their lunches and head to their spot, the garden on the roof. As they sit down, Gabriella looks at Troy who is currently finding the ground very interesting. "All right, do you want to tell me what that was all about?" Gabriella questions, hoping to get to the bottom of this before their next class.
He lets out a sigh and says, "Well, to be honest, I don't really know. The situation just rubbed me the wrong way and my instinct kicked in and I said what I did. Gabriella, I don't know if you are blind to this or know and don't care but Hunter is interested in you. On what level, I can't tell at this point but he's made it an effort to get to know your tendencies, which is definitely a sign of interest if nothing else."
"So you decide to become Mr. Macho Man and show him that I'm your girl before he thinks of trying something?"
"No, it's nothing like that!" Troy exclaims, finally looking up and into Gabriella's eyes. "I just, well, I just didn't want to lose you without a fight. Maybe this is payback for all the hurt and torture I have inadvertently put you through with Sharpay and now Jasmine but I just don't like the feeling that you could slip through my fingers again, after everything we have gone through."
"Troy, you have to trust me, just as I have trusted you all these times. Sure, I get mad and annoyed sometimes when you don't fend off the girls as well as I think you can, but I trust that you would never betray me or our love. As upset as I was the first day at school, I knew deep down in my heart that you wouldn't do anything like that to me but my fears kicked into overdrive. I have those fears too Troy, the ones where I think I'm going to lose you to some other girl or to your passion for basketball," Gabriella admits, knowing it wasn't all that smart to expose all her vulnerabilities but was willing to lay it all out for her boyfriend to see and understand. "Yet, I find myself always wanting to believe that the fears are just that, fears and not fact."
He smiles a little in return. "I guess then that we share yet another thing in common, the fear of losing one another. And to be honest, I kind of spoiled my surprise for this afternoon in my need to be Mr. Macho Man as you called it."
"What do you mean?" she questions, confused by what he said.
"I mean, I was going to have Taylor drag you to the auditions anyway, and as your name was to be called, I was just going to appear next to you. I know we took the spring musicale off but I got this feeling from you over the summer that you wanted to do the fall one and so I prepped myself and of course my dad for it. Dad already knows where I'll be this afternoon, which is of course going to be auditioning with you."
"Really?" Gabriella asks, a bit skeptical. "You were really planning on the audition today?"
Troy nods. "I wouldn't lie to you about it just to cover my behind if that's what you are thinking. Come on now, have some faith in me."
Gabriella smiles. "Of course I have faith in you, and I do believe you. Question is, can you trust me to not fall for Hunter's star charm?"
"I can if you can deal with me having to be around the cheerleaders at practices and games."
"Which I have already committed to. I guess then, Mr. Bolton, that we have ourselves an understanding," Gabriella says with a smile. "What song were you going to have Kelsi play today?"
"Oh yeah, I arranged that with her too. 'Everyday' is what I had her prepare for us. Can I also say what good secret keepers Taylor and Kelsi are?"
Gabriella laughs, making him smile even more. She looks at her watch and realizes the bell is about to ring. "We better get going down to the gym for PE," she says, getting up from the bench and throwing her trash away.
Troy follows suit but grabs her uninjured hand before she could go down the stairs, and slowly draws her to him so she is standing right in front of him. He wraps his arms around her waist and leans his head down to capture her lips, just as the bell rings. Troy pulls away and smiles at her, enjoying the look of contentment on her face. "I love you," he whispers, before kissing her one last time.
"And I love you," she responds as they break apart, meaning every single word of the declaration. "With all my heart."