Chapter 1 : New Beginnings

Gabriella sighed as she made her way through the huge doors of East High her new school, the halls were huge and the corridors were well polished. Glancing at her timetable and map she eventually made her way to her new homegroup. This wasn't a new experience for Gabriella, almost every year she'd had to move schools due to her Mum's job and every year had been the same thing over and over again, making new friends, settling down finally and moving again. This year Gabriella had given up on the idea of trying to make friends, she was happier alone anyway.

Gabriella knocked on the door to room 207, noticing a middle aged woman giving a lecture to a room full of sixth formers. She quickly rushed to the door and let Gabriella in.

"Ah you must be Miss Montez, welcome to East High, I am Ms Darbus your new homegroup tutor" Ms Darbus said warmly before looking back at her homegroup.

"I except you all to make Miss Montez here very welcome, please take a seat Gabriella" She continued, Gabriella chose a seat at the back near a blonde girl and her twin who were staring at her and whispering making Gabriella feel slightly uneasy.

"As its your first day back I've decided to leave my Shakespeare discussion until tomorrow morning, use this period wisely" Ms Darbus said before returning to her desk where she read through some papers.

Gabriella pulled her headphones and ipod out and began listening to music, only to be interrupted a few seconds later.

"Sorry, you're not allowed to have your ipod out in Ms Darbus' lessons" The blonde girl said, standing in front of Gabriella's desk with her her twin brother.

"Oh right" Gabriella sighed, stressed out already.

"I'm Sharpay by the way, and this is my brother Ryan"

"Oh hi, I'm Gabriella" Gabriella said bluntly, though the two didn't even notice so they pulled two chairs up to her desk and sat by her.

"You have your timetable yet?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, though I have no idea where to go for anything" Gabriella said, being more friendly this time, they didn't seem that bad.

"Ah, so who do you have for math?" Sharpay asked curiously.

"Mrs Philpot" Gabriella answered hoping she'd have them in her lesson, she didn't want to be lonely.

"Oh shame, you're in the top set, we have Mr James"

"Top set, girl that's amazing!" Ryan said praising her, Gabriella giggled slightly.

"Who do you have for English?" Sharpay asked next.

"Uh Mr Bolton" She answered, Sharpay and Ryan clapped.

"Same, he's the new guy, apparently he's a hottie" Sharpay winked.

"Who's a hottie?" Another guy asked approaching them.

"Oh, just you sweetie" Sharpay replied to the guy, kissing his cheek softly as he pulled a chair over and sat next to her.

"Gabriella, this is my boyfriend Zeke, Zeke this is our new friend Gabriella"

"Uh hi" Gabriella said with a small smile.

The rest of their free period was spent getting to know each other. Finally the bell had finally rung leaving Gabriella extremely lonely during her free period, everyone else seemed to have lessons.

Gabriella exited her new homeroom as the younger students began piling into the classroom. She walked along the empty corridor putting in her headphones in her ipod, completely unaware of the man walking straight towards her engrossed in his book, the two collided right in the middle of the corridor both in shock.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Gabriella cried before she sat up.

"No, totally my fault" He apologised as he stood up, their eyes met and for a second neither looked away.

"I'm Troy, Troy Bolton new head of English" He said holding his hand out to help her up she took it gratefully, smiling as she stood.

"I'm Montez, I mean Gabriella Montez I'm new too"

"It was a pleasure meeting you Montez, you should go I don't want you to be late for your first lesson" He said sincerely, though deep down he knew he would like to find out more about this girl, something about her intrigued him but he couldn't quite figure out what.

"I actually have a free period" She replied picking up his book and handing it to him their hands touching gently, Gabriella swore she felt a spark as they touched, she just mentally shook her head.

"Me too, I should probably go and find a better place to read my book than the corridor eh" Troy joked.

Gabriella read the title of his book as he held it in his hand "The great Gatsby?" She asked raising her eyebrows.

"It's a classic!" He answered before they were silent.

"So I'd better go and learn my way around the school, don't want any more collisions" Gabriella said laughing slightly but with truth in her tone, she really didn't want to get lost.

"Sure, I'll see you around, Montez" He said smirking, his heart sinking a little as she walked away. Gabriella walked along the corridor, looking back once more to see him walk away she smiled to herself as she turned the corner, she couldn't wait until her next English lesson.

Gabriella sighed as she entered the girls bathroom, maths had gone okay. She'd met a nice girl called Taylor who'd made her feel pretty welcome and in history she'd sat with Zeke and they'd got on quite well but none of these people seemed to replace her old friends.

She quickly applied a bit of lipgloss and touched up her foundation before she exited again to find a suitable place for lunch. She walked outside onto the grassy bank filled with millions of unknown faces until she heard someone calling her name, she spun round to find Sharpay waving at her eagerly, she immediately walked over to the table and took a seat opposite Sharpay, on the table were Ryan, Zeke and another unfamiliar face.

"Gabriella, this is my girlfriend Kelsi, Kelsi this is Gabriella" Ryan introduced as Gabriella sat down, Kelsi gave Gabriella a shy smile.

"So hows your day been so far, aren't you just loving East High?" Sharpay asked Gabriella.

"Its been okay, my free period was interesting, maths was okay and history was fun with Zeke" Gabriella said smiling.

"Good, well we have English together all together later" Sharpay said clapping.

"I'm so glad I have you all with me" Kelsi said with a sigh of relief.

"Us too Kels, last year was shit when we were split up without you" Sharpay pouted.

Suddenly Taylor and another unfamiliar face appeared. "Hey Gabriella, we were wondering if you wanted to work on the maths homework with us, Mrs Johnson can be a bit funny about how its done" Taylor said genuinely.

"That would be nice, how about tomorrow?" Gabriella asked smiling.

"Sure, we'll meet you by the toilets?"

"You wanna sit with us?" Sharpay asked the two girls standing up, she'd never really talked to them but as they were nice to Gabriella she decided they couldn't be too bad.

"Okay sure" Taylor said sitting next to Gabriella, the unfamiliar girl sat next to Sharpay.

"Oh I'm Martha by the way" The girl said smiling politely at Gabriella.

Surprisingly after that the whole table began getting involved with a whole conversation and getting to know each other, oblivious to everyone around them staring, never had a nerd, drama queen or a jock all talked together, let alone sat and laughed together.

"I should probably go and find my locker again, I'll see you in homeroom" Gabriella said truthfully, though she wanted some time to herself first.

As Gabriella reached her locker she swapped books over and shoved them into her bag before she noticed a small door slightly open only a few metres away from her locker, she walked over to it and pushed it open gently and noticing another small door ahead of her, she opened it and found a set of stairs which she walked up quietly in case anyone else was around.

Once she reached the top she gasped to herself, she was stood right in the middle of the school's rooftop and better yet it was covered in flowers and pretty tree's, Gabriella looked around amazed but completely missed the figure in the corner which was absolutely awestruck at this beauty stood in the middle of rooftop.

Gabriella, still unaware of the man, sat down on a small bench near the edge of the wall around the roof, she finally found the chance to pull out her ipod and stuck her headphones in playing her favourite song. Seeing no one else up on the rooftop she began singing softly, getting louder each time she sung her song.

Everywhere we go we feel like we're strangers

On the other hand it makes us feel major

If they never knew then maybe they'll name ya

Don't let 'em change ya

When you finally find what's beautiful

It's so wonderful

When you finally find what's beautiful

It's so wonderful

It's so wonderful

Exhale, breathe in

Let yourself go for the evening

Break out, screaming

You can lose your voice if you mean it

Can't control the feelin'

And I can't let go, I need it

Everywhere we go we feel like we're strangers

On the other hand it makes us feel major

If they never knew then maybe they'll name ya

Don't let 'em change ya

When you finally find what's beautiful

It's so wonderful

Gabriella paused halfway through the song when she heard a clap, she looked up from her ipod to see Mr Bolton sat watching her, his book next to him.

Gabriella gave out a small scream "Oh my god, what are you doing up here?"

"I found a quiet place to read my book until I was joined by someone else" Troy replied with a smirk.

"I'm sorry" Gabriella said blushing.

"Don't apologise, I was enjoying it" He said smiling genuinely, Gabriella blushed even more.

"It's beautiful up here" She said changing the subject completely.

"Most certainly is" Troy replied, his eyes not leaving hers.

"So you like it up here?" She asked curiously, he took a seat next to hers.

"Definitely, might make it a regular hideout"

"You don't mind sharing it right?"

"Ofcourse not, our little secret" He said with a slight smile.

"Sure, I'd better go find my homeroom again, same time tomorrow?" Gabriella asked, actually looking forward to seeing him again.

"Yes, same time tomorrow" He replied as she stood up to go.

"Bye Montez" He called as she walked back down the stairs.

"Bye, Mr Bolton."

Gabriella walked to room 509 with Sharpay and Ryan eagerly, it was time for her English lesson with a very familiar to her Mr Bolton, who was currently sorting through some papers until he became aware the 3 were stood in the doorway talking, he looked straight up at Gabriella before he tore his eyes away to glance at Sharpay and Ryan too.

"You must be here for English, sit wherever you want we have a small group" He said setting his focus back to Gabriella.

Each row was a row of three so Gabriella took a seat at the front next to Sharpay who saved a seat next to her waiting for Zeke. Ryan sat behind and saved a seat next to him for Kelsi who had just arrived. Next Zeke, Jason and Chad all came bouncing in. Zeke faithfully sat next to his girlfriend whereas Jason and Chad took a seat on the row behind Ryan and Kelsi. Martha and Taylor followed in shortly, being the only two people left into the room Troy stopped them before they sat on a new row.

"Okay so this is all the class, so we're all sat together can you go and sit at the back with the two guys" Troy said pointing to the back where Chad and Jason were sat, Taylor moaned and took her seat next to Chad. Martha was left to sit in the empty seat next to Kelsi.

"So I think you can all tell that I'm new here, I'm Mr Bolton but for such a small group I prefer Troy" He introduced politely.

"Hi Troy" Jason called out, everyone just turned and stared at him.

"Anyway, as I'd really like to get to know you all, its gonna be so hard seeing as there's so many of you" Troy joked.

"But there's only 8 of us" Jason said with a very confused look, the class groaned.

"Actually Jason, there's 9 of us" Taylor pointed out, there was a small sound of laughter.

"Okayy, well I want all of the tables moved and sit in a circle on the floor" Troy commanded.

Once the tables were set out they were all sat in a circle on the floor, Gabriella in between Troy and Sharpay. When no one else was looking Troy leaned closer to Gabriella and whispered "Following me are you, Montez?" His hot breath made her shiver.

"So we're gonna go round the room and introduce ourselves; names, likes and whatever else you want to add in" Troy said changing back to teacher mode before continuing "So, I'm Troy Bolton, I'm 23, I've just moved here from New York, I'm a huge book worm but in High School I was a huge basketball player, won every championship."

Chad, Jason and Zeke all cheered as he said the last bit, all were on the basketball team. "You should play hoops with us sometime" Chad said, holding his basketball in his lap.

"Ah I haven't played in 5 years, I doubt I'll be any good"

Sharpay coughed slightly drawing the attention away from the game her boyfriend played too much of in her eyes.

"I'll go next" Sharpay clapped before giving her speech. "Well as you all know I'm Sharpay Evans, my parents are the proud owners of Lava Springs, I've been in all the school's musical productions so far and my bestfriends are Ryan and Kelsi and my beautiful new friend here Gabriella" Sharpay said hugging Gabriella slightly.

"Montez, you next" Troy said.

"Well I'm Gabriella Montez the new girl, so far I've lived in LA, Philly, Rhode Island and Ohio, I've just moved here from Ohio and I'm just a regular girl."

Then was Chad's turn. "I'm Chad, my life is just hoops, hoops, cheerleaders and more hoops."

The boys all howled and hi fived, Zeke stopped when he saw Sharpay giving him a sharp glare.

Eventually each person took their go to introduce themselves, after they'd put the desks back they made their way back to their original places whilst Troy wrote something on the board.

"Love" He said as he wrote the word on the board "What comes to mind when you hear this word?"

"Girly romancy crap" Chad called out.

"Rom coms" Sharpay and Ryan called out at the same time.

"Happiness" Hearing this made Troy turn around to face the speaker, who of course was Gabriella.

"Why happiness?" He questioned.

"Well, that's what love is supposed to be about two people happy together, nothing else needed, no money, no gifts needed just pure happiness" Gabriella replied, everyone awed and agreed.

"Interesting point Montez, so I'd like you all to come back to tomorrow's lesson with your favourite quote about love, whether its from a movie, book or whatever find the clip on youtube or the scene in the book" Troy said writing it down on the board.

"If we already know one we want to show can we do it now?" Sharpay asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Why not, we have a good 20 minutes left so sure"

Sharpay stood up in front of the class and began to speak "So my quote is short and sweet, its from Rihanna and its If Someone Is Right For You, You Will Know It"

"Good, and why did you pick that one?" Troy questioned

"Well I'm a huge Rihanna fan, but I immediately thought of this quote because it reminds me of me and Zeke, 2 years ago I was the huge bitch of East High and I wouldn't even look at him, but he didn't give up on me and eventually he gained my trust and changed me completely" Sharpay said smiling, Zeke was practically glowing in his chair, his smile stretched from ear to ear and everyone else in the room just smiled at the couple, even Chad.

"Lovely, anyone else have another quote?" Troy asked as Sharpay took her seat next to Zeke and Gabriella, Zeke stuck an arm around his girlfriend and hugged her gently.

"I do" Gabriella spoke up.

"Go ahead Montez" Troy replied, she got up and typed her movie scene into youtube and clicked on the clip. On the board flashed a video of an airport with the voice of Hugh Grant playing in the background.

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

"So what made you choose this quote?" Troy asked.

"Well the bit about the Twin Towers really touched me, during something as horrific as that it must've been reassuring to hear the voice of the one they love just one more time" Gabriella said, everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

"Very good, well we'll see more next time, I'm afraid its the end of the lesson see you all tomorrow" Troy announced, everyone grabbed their stuff and walked out.

"So what did he mean when he said 'following me are you Montez'?" Sharpay asked curiously.

"Oh, it's a long story" Gabriella said as she blushed, she'd thought no one had heard.

"Good thing social care is so boring then" Sharpay said giggling.

AN: Please review!:)