Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: First Day Troubles

Let me first clarify that this is a school assignment. We're supposed to right a "short story", which can be as long as we want, about our life at EHS for our senior English Class. So I guess I'm going to start from the beginning, here it goes.

East High School of Albuquerque, New Mexico is the setting. EHS is a public school that is known for its cliques. No one, I repeat, no one is to step outside the status quo. My name is Gabriella Montez, and I began at EHS when I was a junior, so that is where my story really begins.

My mom and I move to a new city every summer for her job, my dad died in a car accident when I was 12, and we've moved every year since then. Albuquerque was just another city checked off on our list of places we've lived. However, this year was going to be different, you see my mom's company promised not to transfer her until after I graduated. At all my other schools I was known as "the freaky math girl", so I was expecting to slide in with the nerds here at East High. What I was expecting, turned out to be nothing that I got.

The first day of school, August 23rd. It had to be like 97 degrees outside, it was so hot. All I can remember is longing to be in San Francisco again, where there was always a cool breeze and the evenings were always perfect no matter how hot it got in the daytime. Plus, there was no humidity; I know right, what more can a girl ask for. I entered East High and made my way to the principle's office to get all the papers I would need. My mom was leaving that afternoon for a business trip in London, England for two months. I know that seems like a long time for a 16 year old to be home alone, but I got used to it really fast, so I wasn't really bothered by it. The principle showed me to my locker and then to my homeroom.

"The students at East High are very amiable." Principle Matusi assured me, "They'll help you find your classes." With that he left me outside Ms. Darbus' door: my homeroom teacher. When I walked in, it was not what I had expected. There was a stage at the front of the classroom. Yes, it is a regular classroom except for the stage; my first thought was "aren't stages supposed to be in the theatre?" Anyways, I walked to the front of the room and gave her the necessary papers just as the bell rang. She then made me face the class.

"Class," she began as she failed to get their attention, "QUIET!!" She screamed, "Thank you, now I'd like to tell you that summer break is OVER so you must listen to me. I'd like to introduce a new student. Class this is Gabriella Montez, Gabriella, please tell the class where you moved from." She directed

"Oh, I came from San Francisco, California." Darbus nodded and told me to take the empty seat in the back. As I made my way to the back some jerk grabbed my ass, which seriously ticked me off, but because it was my first day I didn't say anything and just sat down.

The day was good in general; I made a couple of new friends who were on the Scholastic Decathlon Team or did theatre. Apparently the theatre girls are really smart so they hang with the "nerds". Their names are Taylor McKessie, Sharpay Evans, also known as the "Ice Princess" for dumping a bucket of ice on a jock when they were making fun of Kelsi, Kelsi Neilson, and Miley Riggs.

Finally the end of the day came and I was putting my books back in my locker and taking out the ones that I needed for homework. Suddenly I heard a bang and looked up to find the jerk that grabbed my ass in homeroom leaning on the locker next to mine. I chose to ignore him in hopes that he would get bored and go away, but my hopes were in vain.

"Hey sexy" he said in a deep and what he probably thought was a seductive voice.

I simply nodded and continued what I was doing. When I shut my locker he grabbed my bag and pushed me against the recently closed door. I gasped a little as he positioned himself in such a way that I could neither kick nor hit him, he was obviously a pro at this. He began biting at my neck and kissing me all over my face. I kept struggling as a wave of panic drove through my body remembering my stalker Ryan Greene from Connecticut. I kept trying to get out of his grip when suddenly I freed my right arm. I hit him in the back of the neck with my fist, temporarily immobilizing him. Tears were streaming down my face as a I made a run for it completely forgetting my bag. Suddenly I tripped and fell straight into the arms of someone I'd never seen before. I looked up into the ocean blue eyes of a gorgeous boy, probably a junior too.

"Are you okay?" He asked in an extremely concerned voice.

Suddenly the words "Get back here bitch, no one runs off from me!" Rang through the air.

The cute boy positioned me behind him as my attacker approached. "Henderson." The cute boy said with such ice in his voice that it made me shiver.

I saw my attacker waver as he said, with much less confidence, "Bolton." The two stood there a while until "Henderson" finally left. The cute boy turned back and looked at me. I suddenly began sobbing my heart out, he quickly wrapped me in his arms and rocked me back and forth, just whispering comforting words in my ears. After about 10 minutes I finally stopped sobbing an looked at him.

"Thank you." I whispered

"Hey, it's no problem. I'm Troy Bolton." He held his hand out.

"Gabriella Montez." I shook his hand and we began walking out to our cars. After making sure I was okay he finally let me drive home. I was exhausted and my mom was already gone. I really hate her business trips, they leave me all alone, which sucks after being attacked like that. Oh well. I quickly made some dinner and began my homework. When I finished I put in a movie, which I fell asleep to.

The next day I made my way to my locker only to find Troy Bolton and a bunch of guys I didn't know hanging around my locker. I smiled at Troy as he asked, "Are you okay Ella? Yesterday was pretty rough for a first day. He hasn't tried anything has he?" He was really concerned, which made me giggle.

"I'm fine Troy, thank you. And 'Ella', hm…no one's called me that before." I smiled, "I like it."

"Good, cause you're stuck with it." He then proceeded to introduce me to his friends, Chad Danforth, who had a LOT of hair, and it was all curly, Zeke Baylor, Jason Cross, and Ryan Evans. They were all apparently on the basketball team, of which Troy was the captain.

Suddenly all my friends that I had made yesterday walked up. "Are these lunkheads bothering you Gabby?" Taylor asked.

"Taylor" I pointed out, "It's not very nice to call someone a lunkhead, and no they're not bothering me, on the contrary, they're very nice." I said smiling at Troy who simply smiled back.

"HOLD UP!" Chad said rather loudly, "You hang with the nerds and theatre freaks.?" He asked incredulously.

"Yea, so. Does it matter, they're nice." I said defensively, after all I was one of them.

"No one mixes cliques." Ryan said rather harshly. I looked at Troy a little hurt. After all, they were nice to me when they didn't' know I was a nerd. Why did that make so much difference?

"Oh, I see. Well, then I guess I'll be going with my friends." I stopped suddenly, "You two are twins aren't you." I said pointing to Ryan and Sharpay.

"Don't remind us." Shar scolded. I nodded and proceeded to walk off when I felt someone grab my wrist. I turned to find Troy.

"Yes." I said, a little coolly.

"Hey, I don't buy stock into that whole clique shit. I want to walk you to your homeroom. Will you let me." Looking into his ocean blue eyes, which looked so sincere, and seeing his million dollar smile that made me melt, how could I say "no"? So I simply nodded and he took my hand and walked me to Darbus' homeroom, which, consequently, we were all in. Our friends just stared in disbelief as the leader of the school, a jock for g-d's sake, walked down the halls with a nerd. But, in the end they all shrugged, whoever questioned Troy Bolton was really stupid, and even Jason wasn't dumb enough for that. So they let it be. What they didn't realize was that a really unhappy Scott Henderson was watching them the whole time, slowly plotting how he could get Gabriella.