This is my first fan-fiction. This account is a joint account and it is a different person writing this than whose writing the comic fan-fictions.

Disclaimer: I own squat. I'm not even sure I own that.

Chapter One

Present Time

" I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Taylor McKessie wondered aloud while fiddling with the tail of her cat suit.

" Oh, so now this is my fault?" a nearby Chad Danforth responded after taking out his vampire teeth.

" I didn't say it was you," she rebutted.

" But it sure sounded like it."

" Will you two stop arguing for one second!" a normally quiet Gabriella Montez shouted dressed as the bride of Frankenstein. Trapped, the six were inside a New Mexican condominium. What started as a normal Halloween party, ended up as a fear of never seeing tomorrow.

You're probably wondering, what is going on? Let's flashback to an early event to help you catch on.

Flashback

" One for you. One for you. Oh, definitely one for you," Sharpay Evans stated as her brother handed out the invitations. The date: October 22. Mr. and Mrs. Evans always had their annual work retreat. This year it was their turn to host it. So while Mr. and Mrs. Evans were busy planning for the retreat, Sharpay and Ryan were going to stay overnight at their condo. Condo + two teenagers + Halloween party time.

Sharpay was doing her best to invite only the coolest of the cool, the richest of the rich, and some other dorks they could bribe to do their homework assignments later on.

" One for you. Come on Ryan, these invitations aren't going to deliver themselves!" she ordered.

" I'm doing my best, Sharpay," poor Ryan defended in a useless attempt. No one, not even her own brother, would dare argue with her.

Meanwhile a tad bit further down the hall, a nervous Gabriella was gathering her belongings for her next class.

" In a rush there, Montez?" a male voice said behind her. Gabriella turned around apprehensively wondering who said that statement. It was none other than Troy Bolton, a super star basketball player/ musical talent extraordinaire.

" Hello Troy," Gabriella greeted in her normal, sweet and cheery tone. " What are you doing here? Don't you have some before school workout/ training session in the gym right about now?"

" Well, I was wondering if I could walk you to homeroom?" he asked obviously nervous.

" You mean the homeroom less than three feet away from my locker," she pointed out.

" We could go the long way," Troy suggested.

" Like taking two steps forward and one step back."

" We could or we could always go up to the roof."

" I like the way you think, Wildcat."

" Thanks, it's a gift," he answered basking in his own self-glory. Gabriella laughed at his slight arrogance. Then the blonde in a sequin matching, low cut, v-neck, pink and glitter designer shirt and coordinating skirt walked up to the pair.

" Hey Troy," Sharpay exclaimed.

" Hi… Sharpay," Troy responded.

" Ryan, say hi to Troy," Sharpay demanded.

" Hi Troy," Ryan said.

" Hi Ryan."

" So Troy, as you know, there's going to be a Halloween party at my beach-house coming up. I really hope you come," Sharpay said ignoring Gabriella. True, they didn't hate each other, but you wouldn't exactly see the two painting each other's nails anytime soon.

" Yeah, the party."

" Anyways, I really hope that you can make it." Sharpay snapped her fingers obviously notifying Ryan to hand her an invitation. He took the top one of the huge stack he was holding and handed it to her. With a smile, Sharpay took the invitation and handed it to Troy.

" Here's one for you too, Gabriella," Ryan commented personally handing her an invitation. Sharpay quickly whipped her head around to give Ryan a look as if she was burning him with her eyes.

" I guess you can come too, Montez," Sharpay huffed.

" Gee, thanks Sharpay. I really appreciate that," Gabriella responded.

" My pleasure," she said with a forced smile. " Let's go Ryan. Hope you can come Troy!" Sharpay and her brother Ryan continued on handing out invitations.

" Boy, would I hate to be Ryan right now," Troy admitted.

" I know, but it's nice to see him making his own choices without Sharpay's help," Gabriella replied.

" I would still hate to be Ryan right now," Troy repeated taking Gabriella's hand and leading her up to the roof of East High.

" Taylor, good grief, how much stuff do you have?" Chad Danforth asked. They were standing outside of Taylor's locker and Chad, being the gentleman that he is, agreed to carry her books.

"Chad, I can carry my own books. I mean if you think it's too much for you to handle," Taylor teased obviously poking at his male dominance.

" No, no that's alright, I got this," he said shifting his position to help make the book load lighter. It didn't work. When you have a girlfriend, or in Chad and Taylor's case, a " not quite so relationship, but more than friends" type of scenario, who takes every class available, sacrifices had to be made. Unfortunately for Chad, this meant more physical sacrifices.

" That should be everything," Taylor amended scanning her locker for anything else. " I can get the rest of my stuff after lunch." She closed her locker and turned to Chad.

" Rest of your stuff?" he questioned. " What else could you possibly have?"

" Chad, that's all my stuff for one class. Do you think I can show up in World Literature with my Trig workbook?" she scoffed. Chad rolled his eyes. Once again, the familiar blonde drama queen made her rounds.

" Um. Um." Sharpay began forgetting Chad's name. " Troy's friend," she called.

" Chad," Ryan corrected behind her.

" Whatever," she replied. Sharpay again snapped her fingers as Ryan handed her an invitation. " You're invited." She snapped her fingers again, receiving another invitation from Ryan. " I guess you're invited too… Chad's smart girlfriend," Sharpay added.

" Taylor," Ryan corrected again.

" Sure, right,' Sharpay sarcastically said. She brushed past against them as she continued down the hall. As soon as Sharpay left, Taylor stuffed the invite in her pocket not making much of it, obviously not wanting to go.

" Come on Chad, let's get to homeroom, before Ms. Darbus counts us tardy," Taylor stated walking ahead. Chad was walking behind her, only taking baby steps.

" Chad, at that pace, buy the time you make it to homeroom, it will be lunch time," Taylor pointed out.

" I'm going as fast as I can," Chad mumbled. Taylor sighed as she took a couple of her books from the top of the stack Chad was carrying.

" If we're going to work Chad, we have to work together. And besides, I didn't really need all these books," Taylor confessed.

" What?" Chad exclaimed.

" I just wanted if you would actually carry all my books, and you would." She gave him a light peck on the cheek. " Thank you. You're not so much of a lunkhead after all." They walked side by side to Ms. Darbus's door.