From the moment you walk into your school, you get a label. Geek, emo, gothic, badass… That last one was for Troy Bolton. From the moment he walked through the doors of East High in his cool clothes and his pants almost on his knees, he's been seen as a badass with bad grades and someone who pulls pranks on people all the time. But actually, he only does it to go with his reputation. When he is actually a really good guy with good grades.

"Hey man," Troy said as he walked up to his 'best friend' ,Chad Danforth. No, even he doesn't know the real Troy, in fact, Troy doesn't have any friends. The only people that know the real him are his parents and his sister. Not even his grandparents. "Hey Troy, where were you yesterday?" Chad asked, "you missed the whole party?" "I umm… I couldn't come, family problems," Troy explained. But actually Troy was at the hospital yesterday for his sister. You see, when Troy was 14 he took his parents' car to drive to a friend's house late at night as his parents were out with only one of the two cars. He was supposed to be babysitting his six year old little sister then, so he was going to take her with him to his friend's house.

Flashback

"Come on Lisa, we're going to Nathan's house," 14 year old Troy said to his 6 year old little sister. Lisa stood up and followed Troy outside and into the car, since she didn't know any better. In the car, Troy was singing to entertain Lisa. As siblings with 8 years apart, they got on really well. But when he wasn't paying attention, he lost control of the wheel (he hasn't drive before) and he smashed into a tree which made another car bump into them from behind. "LISA!" he screamed, but then everything wen black.

End of flashback

Troy shook his head. He tried to forget all about that night, but he still had nightmares about it. "You should've come to party with us," Chad said, "it was awesome." Troy faked a smile. "Family first man," he said. "Pfft," Chad answered, "and let all those hot girls slip right through your fingers? No thanks." That was another thing. Everyone thought he was a player, OK, because he could get the girls he enjoyed the attention. Every man needs some attention, right? But he never started anything with these girls, I mean, he thought they looked nice and stuff, but there's only one girl, except for his sister, that he like. She has long curly brown hair and an exotic kind of look. She gets good grades and she's very down to earth. Troy once again faked a smile. "Sorry man," he said, "but hey, I have to go now." And without waiting for a reply he took off.

As he walked around a corner he bumped into someone. "Look where you're going!" the girl who he bumped into said. It was her, the girl he had a crush on. Gabriella Montez. "I'm sorry," he said as he leaned down to pick up her books. He picked them up and gave them back to her. "Don't think that because you wear cool clothes and because you're popular that you can just do whatever you want!" Gabriella shouted before she took off. Troy looked after her and sighed. Oh if she knew.

At class

"Sit down!" the history teacher yelled as everyone went to their places. "I have a project where you will pair up in two and you'll play a piece that you've mad yourselves with an idea that I will give you. Of course it will have something to do with what we're working on at the moment. Now, I will sign you up in pairs." As the teacher began yelling the names of people who will be paired up together, Troy looked over to Gabriella who was almost in every class he had, history included. As Gabriella looked at him he smiled at her, but she rolled her eyes and looked away again. "Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez!" the teacher yelled. He saw her roll her eyes again, but inside he was screaming! He got to partner up with Gabriella! Yes! Now, he would finally have a reason to talk to her. Gabriella sighed and walked over to him and sat down in the chair next to him. "So, I guess we'll have to work together," she said as the teacher started handing out the papers with all the information on. "Yes, so, when will we meet up?" Troy asked her. "She sighed again before answering: "Umm, tonight at my house? You can come home with me." I nodded. "OK, but hey listen, if you don't want to work with me I can get you a different partner," I said. She smiled. "No, not at all," she answered. She was just being polite. I can tell she hates me. "OK then, I'll see you after school," I said before walking out of the class as the bell just rang.

After school, outside the building

Troy's pov

I saw Gabriella sitting on a bench just outside the school. "Hey, are you ready?" I asked her and she stood up once she saw me. "yes, let's go," she said.

As we were walking to Gabriella's house we talked for a bit, about how she lived and her family and stuff. Of course I didn't tell her too much about mine. I wouldn't want her to find out what a jerk I am. When we arrived at her house her mom greeted us before we went up to Gabriella's room to work on the project.

2 hours later we finished writing the piece. "Would you like to stay for a while before you go back home?" Gabriella asked me. "That's very nice, but I better go home, I still have homework to do," I answered. "OK, well, we'll meet up again to practice the play tomorrow or so, is that OK?" she asked. "That's fine," I answered standing up and we started walking downstairs, "I'll see you tomorrow in school Gabriella" "Yea, see you tomorrow Troy," she said smiling before I walked off in the direction of my house.