A/N: This story is co-written with glaceauxfraises.

This is the full summary: Gabriella, throughout her entire life, has been labelled a a geek and an introvert - seemingly a nobody. But, when the popular jock, Troy Bolton, finds her crying while reading in the park, he finally notices her. In his eyes, for the first time, he truly sees a girl as beautiful and sets out to find out just what's wrong with her.

So...yeah. Enjoy.

Prologue

Gabriella tapped her pen against her desk in sync with the second hand which seemed to be getting slower and slower. She lowered her head back to her book and continued reading, basking in the silence which filled the room. There were two minutes left of school and she was sitting in Ms Darbus' homeroom. Usually, Darbus would be twittering on about the theatre but everyone had been too noisy – giving both Ms Darbus and Gabriella headaches – and she had declared silence.

The lack of conversation from the class and announcements from Ms Darbus had given Gabriella the opportunity to continue reading her favourite book The Rescue by her favourite author, Nicholas Sparks. The book was crumpled and torn because she'd read it so many times and page eighty-seven had been ripped out, but it had Nicholas Sparks' signature on the first page so she treasured it.

Shifting in her seat until her elbow was resting on the desk and her chin in her palm; she glanced once more at the clock which hung above Ms Darbus' head.

One minute left.

While most of the student body revelled in the fact that there was one minute until their weekend officially began, she cringed at the thought. There were numerous reasons for her lack of excitement for the weekend, the first and foremost one being that she simply enjoyed school. Even though her friends were books and no one gave her the time of day, she revelled in how much she could learn in one day.

She looked up when the bell finally rang and she shut her book, mentally noting which page she was on. She quickly packed her book and pen away – she had kept a pen out in case Ms Darbus had said anything important which, she admitted, was unlikely.

She rushed out of the classroom and skillfully weaved her way through the mass of bodies that crowded the halls. After immediately being labelled a geek and an introvert, she had become very good at quickly moving around the school without being noticed by any of her classmates.

Once out in the warm Albuquerque air, she plugged an ear phone into each ear and pulled her iPod out of her back jeans pocket. She turned it on before returning it to her pocket as she wasn't that fussed about what song would be playing.

She started walking down the sidewalk and scuffed her converse sneaker along the concrete. Once upon a time, she had been the type of girl to live in skirts and t-shirts with pretty patterns on them. She had been a make-up genius and she and her older sister would do makeovers on each other. However, that had ended when her sister, Johanna, had started high school.

And Gabriella? She stopped caring about her appearance a week after she had started the sixth grade. As she looked back, that was probably when everything changed. Johanna found a new obsession with boys and soon left to go to New York for college.

She had felt somewhat lonely but as time wore on - and she hadn't made any friends - she became kind of addicted to homework, reading and listening to music. She simply didn't bother attempting to make friends or act like she fitted in.

She cringed as she opened the mailbox and shuffled through the envelopes. She could hear her parents screaming at each other from the end of the driveway, just like they always did.

She noticed an envelope with her name on it and gasped silently at who sent it. They'd already replied. She quickly folded it and stowed it in her jeans pocket. Her mother didn't need to know just yet.

Home, sweet home.