"Gabriella, are you paying attention to me?" Elizabeth Banks snapped. Gabriella gasped. She hadn't been paying attention.

"Sorry, Liz, I keep thinking about that test from 4th period." Gabriella Montez said. She continued smoothing down her freshly straightened hair and then applied lip gloss. As she leaned towards the mirror, she felt her skirt going up in the back. She pulled it back down.

"THAT wouldn't happen if your skirt weren't so short, Gabi." Quinn Wright said with a laugh.

"Your skirt is short, too." Megan Lopez said with an eye roll.

"ANYWAY, skirts aside…I need to get ready for this date tonight." Elizabeth said. "He's coming over tonight and we're just gonna watch movies."

"Movies?" Megan said with a laugh. She was a sassy, smart Dominican. Her skin was very tanned and her hair was jet black and very curly. She usually opted to wear it straight with waves or in a side fishtail braid. Elizabeth was blonde and had a lot of attitude. Quinn was Elizabeth's flunky. They did everything together, including bullying others. Gabriella, on the other hand, was nicer than the other three but tend to get caught up in the bad behavior. At their all girls' private school, the four girls were a clique.

"Whatever…" Elizabeth said with a smirk. She fixed her uniform. They wore red blazers with a grey plaid skirt and white shirts. There were to be no alterations to the uniforms but that didn't stop the girls from 'accessorizing'.

"We have that meeting in the auditorium." Gabriella reminded them.

"We were actually going to Chipotle." Megan said. She grabbed Gabriella's hand. "Come on. One of your 3,000 Facebook friends will fill you in."

"I know you love Chipotle." Quinn said with a laugh. "It's the Spanish in you."

Gabriella pretended to be offended then laughed. They quickly made their way to the parking lot.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Gabriella received a text from Taylor McKessie.

Taylor: You missed the meeting!

Gabriella: I know. Something came up. Fill me in please

Taylor: Basically, the boys school is getting renovated because parents have been complaining. Theyre coming for the maybe the rest of the year!

Gabriella: WHOA!

Taylor: I know! See you in Chem tomorrow! We will continue this convo…I've got homework

Gabriella texted the other girls and found out they already knew. She felt hurt that no one let her know but pushed it away. She had a strong feeling that Elizabeth found out first and they were all hanging out.

Sometimes she felt like an outcast amongst her friends. Their clique had been going strong since freshman year but it was hard to keep it together. She and Megan were very close but she always had her reservations about Elizabeth. She watched her screw over friends, teachers, and classmates to get her way. It was something that made her uncomfortable but she kept her mouth shut.

She decided to check her facebook. She had several messages that she ignored to look at her newsfeed. A lot of the girls were talking about the merge. She had to admit it was very exciting…until she saw a post from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Banks: All you girls are acting as if you have NEVER BEEN AROUND A GUY. Geesh. Hahaha

Gabriella rolled her eyes. Nearly 30 people had like the post.

"Gabi!" Taylor said when she sat down in her stool.

"Taylor, tell me all the details. When are they coming?" Gabriella asked excitedly.

"Tomorrow! They've already missed a week of school and a half of school and their parents are upset."

"I could imagine. Paying twenty thousand dollars a year and your kid isn't going to school." Gabriella said with a laugh. Taylor shook her head with a smile.

"Chad Danforth will be coming…" Taylor said with a smirk. Gabriella smiled at her.

"Are you gonna get on that?" Gabriella asked with a nudge.

"Honestly, I'm gonna try but you know a lot of girls are gonna be on him." Taylor said disheartened.

"I'll try to help you out. Elizabeth is dating Troy Bolton. His best friend. I haven't met him yet but I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of him." Gabriella explained.

"Ugh, do NOT let those girls know about this. You know how they can be." Taylor said with an eye roll. Gabriella nodded.

Wednesday finally came. Gabriella opted to drive to school with Taylor and Megan. She wanted to be in high spirits and didn't want any negativity from Elizabeth. The girls chatted about their expectations.

"I'm just trying to find a hot guy to hook up with for a couple of months." Megan said honestly. Gabriella laughed.

"Why don't we just try to make some new friends?" Gabriella asked from the backseat. Megan and Taylor looked at her from the front and started laughing.

"Anyways, I have my eyes on a guy on the basketball team." Megan said. Taylor suddenly got quieter.

"Who?" Gabriella asked.

"It's a secret until something happens." Megan said as they pulled into St. Peter's Preparatory parking lot. It was very hard to find a spot nearby with the boys being there. Gabriella wondered how it was going to work out.

Once they exited the car, they hurried into the building and parted ways. Gabriella's locker was on the 1st floor near the gym. She maneuvered her way through the girls fawning over the guys. She rolled her eyes. It was ridiculous. In her rush to get to her locker she bumped into someone and absentmindedly apologized and continued. Once she reached her locker she sighed with relief. It was extremely crowded.

As she dug hung her coat in her locker, someone said to her, "I love being knocked over in hallways."

Gabriella scoffed and replied, "Oh, really?" She turned around to see who was speaking to her. A guy with dark brown hair and blue eyes was leaning casually on the lockers smiling at her.

"Yeah, I think you broke my arm." He said.

"Your arm doesn't look broken but I think you should run along to your locker and get ready for your first class." Gabriella said as she continued getting ready for her day.

"Ouch," He said. She heard him open the locker next to her and smiled to herself.

"So, we're neighbors?" Gabriella said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm afraid so. What's your name?" He asked shyly.

"I'm Gabriella. I guess I should ask you name now."

"Troy…" Gabriella squinted and it hit her.

"Oh, are you Troy Bolton by any chance?" She asked skeptically.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked surprised.

She shut her locker and smiled, "I've just heard some stuff about you." She tried walking off but Troy walked with her.

"What have you heard?" He asked.

"I heard…that you might want to tuck you shirt in." Gabriella said noticing his sloppy shirt. She shook her head. He rolled his eyes and fixed his shirt as they continued walking.

"Tell me, Gabriella." Troy pleaded. "I don't have a class for two periods so I can follow you around."

"Well, I'm going to the library. I'm pretty sure that's not somewhere you want to be." She said hoping he would leave her alone. He was ruining her morning ritual.

"I guess you aren't going to tell me." Troy said defeated. "Fine, I'll see you around."

"Bye, Troy." Gabriella said with a laugh and went towards the library.