Co-Written with cj10824

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters or places created by the High School Musical franchise or by Disney!

Chapter 1

She stayed in her room, locked away, fighting to block out all the noise that was happening around her single room. As hard as she tried though, she still heard the screams, the yelling, the drunken stumbles. It was 3 AM on a Thursday night and Gabriella Montez was trapped in her room as yet another outrageous sorority party continued just outside her door and around the entire sorority house. She rolled her eyes as she heard some heavy panting right outside her door before she heard a door slam down the hall. 'Typical, what is that, the eighteenth drunken hookup I've heard up here tonight?'

It wasn't that Gabriella was depressed or even antisocial but this scene was definitely not hers. In fact, the only reason why she was part of this sorority, Kappa Phi Sigma, was because of her mother, an alumnus, who spoke nothing but of her beloved sorority when it came to where Gabriella would attend college. Gabriella being a legacy was the one thing that even got Gabriella to attend rush week in the fall of freshman year and, she was pretty sure, was the sole reason why she was chosen out of so many other girls to join this sisterhood. Unlike her high school best friend, Taylor McKessie, who was also part of the sorority, Gabriella tended to keep to herself at these parties, not liking the atmosphere and the vibe she got. When she had attended her first two in freshman year, one while rushing and the other right after she was initiated, Gabriella had a horrible time, got puked on the second and last time while being clearly ignored the first. Taylor though, she still attended out of curiosity and tended to be a bit more free with the opposite sex than Gabriella ever imagined herself to be.

Gabriella sighed as she heard yet another muffled conversation before another slam of a door down the hall was heard through her closed and locked door. She got up from her bed and sat down in front of her laptop, determined to block out the outside noise. As she moved to her desk though, Gabriella caught sight of herself in her full length mirror on the back of her door and winced as she saw dark circles under her dull brown eyes, her dark brown hair laying flat around her shoulders despite the few waves present, and dressed sloppily in a t-shirt and sweats.

'Well, what do you expect, a beauty queen? You have been up studying late already and it's only the second week of school. Not being able to sleep tonight isn't helping either,' she thought to herself as she signed onto her email. Knowing that her good friend Kelsi Nielson, who she had met in one of her advanced classes freshman year and instantly clicked with, would be asleep across campus at a regular dorm room for juniors and seniors, Gabriella typed up a quick message to her, complaining of the party, like always, before she dutifully wrote to her parents back in New Mexico.

Gabriella's family was considered middle class, well off enough to send Gabriella to college but only because both of Gabriella's older sisters, twenty-six year old Samantha and twenty-five year old Daniella, never graduated college or even attended in the case of Daniella, who had barely graduated high school. Samantha was one of the brightest in her class in high school but she got led astray when she went away to college in New York, falling for a guy who managed to get Samantha hooked on drugs and alcohol, losing along the way to focus or even care about her college studies. It took both of Gabriella's parents, Theresa and Joseph, Daniella, and Gabriella taking a trip out to Samantha's college campus to make Samantha realize how out of control her life had gotten. After several months in rehab, Samantha emerged clean and with a better perspective on life, wanting to not go back to college but explore the world with a guy she met there, her current boyfriend Thomas, and was currently somewhere in South America.

Daniella, on the other hand, had simply not clicked with school, starting in junior high when she realized having the same teachers as Samantha did only made the teachers that much harder on her since her older sister did so well. In an effort to escape the pressure, Daniella turned her attention instead to being the popular girl, knowing full well that she would never be known as the smart Montez girl. This of course meant that Daniella was by far the most stylish of the three sisters, but it also meant that Daniella used any way she could get to gain that status of being Queen Bee at West High. She gained the most popularity tag to her name when she dated the quarterback of the winning Knights team their junior year, only to catch him cheating on her the night of their junior prom, sending Daniella into a downward spiral from which she eventually emerged but only after abandoning even more desire to be in school. Now, Daniella lived with Theresa and Joseph, managing a favorite coffee house in Albuquerque where Gabriella herself worked for a few summers.

After seeing everything that her two older sisters had gone through, Gabriella's interest in the male species, which already was minimal at best even after her tween years, soured that much more. To her, guys in general were great as friends, fathers, and relatives but anything more was out of the question. Gabriella felt she owed it to her parents to finish and graduate college at the top of the class and really make something of herself, living out the dream she knew they secretly harbored still for all three of their daughters.

'And that is the source as to why I've pushed myself so hard that I'm graduating a year early, doing a typical four year program in three while double majoring,' thought Gabriella, catching herself looking at a family portrait in a frame next to her laptop as the door handle to her room rattled rather loudly. Gabriella rolled her eyes and shouted, "Occupied, go swap body fluids somewhere else!"

There was a loud thump against her door and a moan of pleasure floated right under the door, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes yet again as she imagined said couple who wanted her room now pressing their sweaty, scantily clad bodies together, using her door as a nice substitute for a bed or a table. 'Note to self, make sure to bleach the door in the morning.'

Gabriella grabbed the ear buds that were sitting on her desk attached to her Ipod Touch and selected classical music to play as she stuck the ear buds in her ears, drowning out all the panting, screaming, laughing, and chatting going on through every other room of the sorority house she lived in except hers. Instead of partying like any other Greek member on Greek Row that night, Gabriella focused on her own little world, adding yet another entry into her journal that documented every single day of her life while she closed herself off to the more normal life a college student led that was happening only yards away from where she sat at her desk.

Troy Bolton groaned out of frustration as the door to what he thought was Nicole Dashwood's single room, the largest in the Kappa Phi Sigma house as she was the president of the chapter, refused to open. Instead, he pushed her body harder against the door, moaning with Nicole as he nipped at her naked left shoulder while Nicole adventurously cupped him in her hand. "Damn baby, you're going to drive me fucking nuts. Why did you lock the door?"

Nicole pulled away, flinging some of her light brown hair back over her shoulder, giving Troy a confused look before she looked over her shoulder and realized it wasn't her bedroom door. She rolled her eyes as she looked back at him, giggling at his own puzzled look at her merriment. "This isn't my room silly. It's the one at the end of the hall," she explained. "This room actually belongs to the resident prude and smartie pants, Gabriella Montez. God, I rue the day I actually encouraged her to pledge because she was a legacy. Little did I know what I was helping invite into this chapter."

"Ah, the invisible sister of the Kappa Phi Sigma sorority. Interesting. Should we fuck against her door to show her what she's missing babe?" asked Troy, not caring where he was at the moment, just needing to be inside the girl in his arms.

She gave him a seductive smile, a reward for his suggestion that was fairly close to her own but shook her head. "I would but then it would be outright unsisterly conduct and I know Gabriella would bitch for sure. I've got another idea though to make her less invisible and I'll need your help but later. Right now, stud, I want you and this amazing body of yours in my room, the right one this time, so I can have my wicked way with you."

A low growl erupted from Troy's throat, causing Nicole to giggle even more as he tightened his hold around her body, relishing the feel of her ass in one of his palms as Troy carried Nicole down to her room, promptly slamming the door behind him, finding the release and pleasure he had been aching for ever since he laid eyes on Nicole in the silly mini skirt and low cut tank top she passed off as clothing for the party that night.

Feeling the warmth of the unwanted sun shine on his face, Troy flipped from laying on his back to lying on his stomach, slapping a free pillow over his head as a massive headache began to throb, a not so nice reminder of how much alcohol Troy had consumed last night with his friends, who were also brothers of the same fraternity, Zeta Theta Mu. Chad Danforth, Jason Cross, and Zeke Baylor were Troy's best buddies and teammates on the basketball team both here at college and back home at East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since they were so close, none of the four could deal with parting from each other so they decided to go to college away from New Mexico and stay together at a college they all managed to get into. Now, in their senior year of college, they were faced with the same dilemma as to what to do with the rest of their lives but right now, all Troy cared about, was getting rid of the pounding some god or something was doing on his brain.

After trying to sleep it off but never quite getting to the sleep part, Troy gave up and uncovered his head, looking around the room and realizing he was actually in a room that wasn't his own, recalling slowly the several rounds of rough sex he and Nicole had just a few hours ago in what appeared to be her room. 'God, I have to tell Chad we can't pre-party as hard as we used to before going to these things. I end up being so wasted by the time we get here that my drinking more with the girls only gets my mind even fuzzier, making it hard to remember chunks of the night like how I managed to score with Nicole again, second party in a row. Must make mental note to stay away for the next few days or she's going to want more from me,' he thought as he swung his legs around so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his blue eyes scanning the floor for his boxers.

Once Troy had on his boxers and his pants, he stumbled out of Nicole's room, blinking several times against the brightness in the rest of the house, ignoring the sounds of a cleaning crew coming from down the stairs. After a few different attempts of opening doors but finding a closet and more rooms with couples sleeping together and even a room with several people in various state of undress, Jason being one of them, Troy finally found the bathroom and quickly relieved himself before flushing. He then splashed cold water on his face, managing to find humor in some of the frilly pink decorations that Troy vaguely recalled as most likely belonging to the diva of the Kappa Phi Sigma sorority, Sharpay Evans. Feeling no regret for rummaging, Troy opened the medicine cabinet and quickly located the pain relief pills he was seeking, putting some in his hands before swallowing them with some water, closing his eyes tight, willing the pain to go away.

Splashing more water on his face seemed to eventually help, waking Troy up a little bit more, at least enough for him to understand what was going on around him. When he left the bathroom though, Troy realized he was lost again, despite how many times he had spent the night partying or staying over with various girls of this sorority. 'Then again, you've done the same at other sororities on Greek Row,' Troy reminded himself with a smirk at the memories of his conquests. He slowly padded down the hall after deciding on a direction, passing all the closed doors, remembering only that he left the door open. Seeing the first one open, Troy walked right in but realized immediately it wasn't the same, especially as Nicole wasn't spread out across the bed. Instead, Troy saw a smaller but still spacious room with a twin bed pushed up against the opposite wall where the window was, the purple sheets and quilt made perfectly.

As Troy scanned the room more, he realized he had never seen this room, which wasn't a surprise since school had just started a few weeks ago, but Troy felt like he hadn't ever seen the occupant either, looking closer at some of the pictures on the desk and on the walls, recognizing some of the girls like Sharpay and Taylor but not recalling the dark brunette beauty that was consistently in most of them. "How in the world could I have missed her? She's hot!" he wondered aloud, jumping as he heard a purposeful cough behind him.

"You missed her because she didn't want you to see her. Now please, get out of my room," stated Gabriella, her arms folded and giving him an annoyed look.

"What's the rush babe? The door was open, you must have wanted someone to come in," returned Troy, smirking at her as he allowed his blue eyes to take in all of her curves that were evident by the shorts and tank top that hugged her body, accompanied by some white socks and tennis shoes. Troy's eyes traced each curve of her toned legs and finally made their way back up to the girl's face only to see her even more annoyed. "I've got my morning free. Want to show me some Kappa Phi Sigma hospitality?"

Gabriella let out a huge groan, outraged already that Troy Bolton, the president of Zeta Theta Mu, was standing in her room uninvited and looking rather comfortable, feeling even more pissed off that he would even suggest such a thing to her. "I'm sorry, I thought you being here so early after partying your ass off with your buddies was a sign that you already got what you came here for last night or this morning. I don't do sloppy seconds or your species, sorry. Now get out Bolton!"

Troy straightened a little as he heard his last name being spoken by her soft looking lips. "Now, don't you think this is a bit unfair? I don't even know who you are but you seem to know me. Come on angel, tell me your name," he coaxed, walking quickly over to where she was standing on the other side of the room. Troy reached out a hand to cup her cheek, surprised when she chose to jerk her face away from his reach, rewarding him instead with a glare, her brown eyes emitting nothing but fiery sparks that should have warned Troy to stay away.

"Fuck you," answered Gabriella, having no interest in playing his games.

"Interesting first and last name. Bet your parents really thought that one over," replied Troy, sarcasm dripping from his words. "Angel, how am I supposed to woo you if I don't know your name?"

"Exactly the point, I don't want you or your attention. Why don't you just get your ass out of this room and go find whoever you fucked last night to have your way with her again?" suggested Gabriella.

For being hung over, Troy found his body moved rather quickly, backing her up against the wall and placing each hand on the wall besides her head, his face inches from hers. "But I want to fuck you. I like new, unknown things. You can't deprive me of knowing your name let alone your body, can you?"

Within a flash, Gabriella's palm felt the stubble on his face as she slapped him and slapped him hard, whipping his face to the right from the force. "Bastard! Get the hell out of my room now before I throw you out."

Troy let out a low chuckle, letting her know the slap didn't even faze him, his blue eyes darkening as they bore into hers. "I'd like to see you try," he murmured, lowering his head so his lips danced centimeters above hers, kissing the wall as Gabriella managed to duck away from him and under one of his arms so she was now standing behind him. "Ah, playing hard to get huh?"

Gabriella shook her head as he turned around, cursing herself for leaving her door open without a thought when she had first come back from her run, having run downstairs for a few moments to drink some cold water before returning. For the first time in a long time though Gabriella was actually relieved when Nicole popped into the room, looking suspiciously between Troy and Gabriella.

"Troy, what are you doing in this nerd's room? I told you last night she's the invisible one. We need to get out of here before Gabriella infects you with her unpopularness and squarish way of living," stated Nicole, wrapping an arm around Troy's waist while using her other hand to keep the sheet wrapped around her body.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, not even blinking at Nicole's words, knowing that Nicole had called Gabriella much worse in the past two years. "Please, take him away Nicole. Seems like he got a tad lost on the way back to your lair I guess."

'Or not,' thought Troy as he smirked yet again, realizing he now knew the beauty's name. As he allowed Nicole to lead him out of the room, Troy looked back once again and grinned at Gabriella, his confidence radiating from him more than ever. "Good morning Gabriella. I'm sure I'll see you around even more now."

Gabriella didn't even bother dignifying him with an answer, instead watching as both Nicole and Troy disappeared from view before quickly closing the door and locking it, having no interest in allowing Troy Bolton back into her room ever, instead having many other things to worry about like making her early lunch date with Kelsi in just thirty-five minutes.