Disclaimer: I do not own and am not in any way affiliated with High School Musical. I do not own any of the characters in this story. I do not own and am not in any way affiliated with any brand or company mentioned in this story. This is a work of fiction, for entertainment purposes only. The town of Spring Lake Meadows and all of the places in the story were created by me. Any resemblance to real places are accidental and were not intended. I also do not own any of the song lyrics and titles that will appear in this story.

Author's Note: Hey everyone! This is the first work of mine I'm showing anyone besides my best friend and creative writing teacher in years. I'm really nervous, but I've worked really hard and I really hope that it shows! I'm not the type of person who asks for reviews, but I would really appreciate a couple on this chapter, just to get some constructive criticism and know if I should just toss the dreams of writing to the side! Thank you so much for giving someone new here a chance!

Every chapter is going to be the title of a song I think fits the chapter and a line or two from the song I think really fit the chapter will be at the beginning of each chapter! Some of the song lyrics might not make sense until the end, but I swear by the end of the chapter they fit! This chapter is also mostly Gabriella centric, but Chapter Two is going to be mostly Troy centric. After that the chapters may still have a heavier focus on one character over another in certain chapters, but I'm going to try and make it more spilt. Anyhow, here is the story, finally!


And every magazine tells her she's not good enough,

The pictures that she sees make her cry.

She would change everything, everything, just ask her.

Caught in the in-between of beautiful disaster.

--Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin


Sweat dripped off of the olive colored skin as the girl led the other runners around the track, her long dark ponytail bouncing behind her. She was indifferent to everything around her, the only thing that mattered was moving her legs, moving them harder and faster than the girl behind her. She could tell from the way the sky was now pink tinted with vibrant oranges over the track that practice was nearing a close, not that it really mattered to her. She could keep going if she had to and sometimes she did, even though she didn't have to. Gabriella Montez wasn't running from anything physically chasing her, but when she ran all of the problems that followed her seemed to temporarily disappear. When she ran all that mattered was how fast she could move and how long she could move for.

"Time ladies!" A strong, yet still feminine voice yelled as the girls passed the woman. The girls slowed down, some laid on the cool ground of the track, others hunched over and inhaled sharply, all trying to catch their breath. Gabriella paced in a circle, her arms raised above her midnight colored head, inhaling and exhaling slowly. When she finally caught her breath she too laid down on the gravel, not out of exhaustion , but to let the cold ground cool her overheated body. It was forty-two degrees in November, typical for Spring Lake Meadows, but to the runners it felt like the worst of summer days.

"Good practice girls. I know cross-country is done for the season, but it's important to keep in shape for indoor. This is the last training day until tryouts so, newbies, make sure to run on your own," Coach Michaels warned the out of breath girls. "I'll see you ladies in two weeks." With that as a good bye, the coach turned on the balls of her running shoes and headed towards the faculty parking lot, leaving the girls on their own.

Gabriella squinted her sparkling chocolate colored eyes and looked up at the sunset. While she was running the sky had seemed beautiful, the pinks and oranges swirling together reminded her of summertime. Now, the sky seemed darker, almost red. It seemed ominous, angry, reminding Gabriella of how she felt when she wasn't running.

"Are you coming or what?" a voice came from her right. Gabriella glanced over and saw her friend Riley Donovan standing by the gate to the track, pulling her shoulder length brown hair out of the restrictive ponytail she ran with.

Gabriella nodded and pulled herself up off of the ground. When she stood up she was hit by the cold air and it reminded her that she was still in a white t-shirt and black shorts. She remembered her East High School Track and Field sweatshirt carelessly thrown over the fence and raced to grab it before heading towards the gate with Riley.

"Want to hit the gym with me before school tomorrow? I need to work on my sprints for indoor and that's so much easier to do inside," Riley asked as the girls walked towards the student parking lot.

Gabriella rolled her deep brown eyes and smiled at her friend. "You just don't want to run outside cause you're a baby in the cold," Gabriella laughed.

Riley narrowed her dull green eyes at her friend and huffed. "I don't see how it doesn't bother you. Running in the cold makes my throat feel like it's going to fall out of my neck."

Gabriella smiled but didn't say anything. Her throat always felt the same way, but she just didn't let it get to her. Running outside was a better stress reliever, she felt more focused on just running when she ran outside. Inside with the fluorescent lighting and old men two treadmills down with jiggling stomachs as they tried to keep up with a five mile an hour pace, she felt too exposed. Running was running though, and it was better than nothing.

"See you tomorrow, Riley," Gabriella said when the girls arrived at her car.

Riley waved to her friend and nodded, "Run inside with me in the morning?"

"If you insist," Gabriella agreed flatly, as she unlocked her car and climbed into the driver's seat. Three spaces down she watched enviously as Riley climbed into her white BMW and started the engine. It was the same exact car Gabriella had wanted when she got her driver's license, except she had wanted it in black. Instead she had gotten a black Cadillac Escalade. Most people wouldn't complain about this gift, most people would be thrilled, and Gabriella was too, but she had wanted something less noticeable. Gabriella had never been the type of girl who liked to draw extra attention to herself and attention was definitely drawn in a massive Escalade.

The Escalade had been her step-mom Holly's idea. Her dad had been perfectly content on getting her the car of her choice, but Holly had insisted that no girl in their right mind would want a BMW when they could have an Escalade. When Gabriella saw the car sitting in the driveway with a giant pink bow on top she had cringed. Escalades in her opinion not only drew attention, but they drew it in a 'Hey look at how much money I have!' kind of way. Holly was fond of drawing attention this way, which was clear from the expensive yet completely tacky decor of their house. Her step-daughter on the other hand hated drawing attention to her family's money.

Gabriella drove home with the radio playing softly in the background on 102.9, Spring Lake Meadows Top 40 station. She wasn't really a fan of Top 40 music, but she was a fan of fitting in and fitting in at East High meant listening to pop and rap about sex and drugs and knowing every word to every song. The raven haired beauty tuned out the meaningless lyrics as she drove through her small town, passing the familiar landmarks of the town: the Quiki-Quik gas station where anyone who could see over the counter could purchase a pack of Natty Light, Mama G's Kitchen where the best pancakes-- a.k.a. hangover food--could be found, and Barefoot Grill everyone's favorite place to convene after a basketball win to refuel before they heading out for the night. Ask any adult in Spring Lake Meadows what the town landmarks were and they would probably mention the botanical gardens, Kuser Farms and their famous apple trees, or the Spring Lake Meadows Symphony Hall. The teenagers knew better though, and thanked God that their parents didn't.

Gabriella's Escalade turned left at large white and green sign that read Plantation Estates. She pulled a little further down a wooded road before stopping at a set of wrought iron gates. The gates separated swiftly thanks to the barcode on the left rear window of the SUV and she waved her thin fingers at the guard in the guardhouse before pulling into the neighborhood. She made her way slowly down the cobblestone road and made a right onto Willow Tree Drive at the first stop sign she encountered. The black SUV pulled into the third driveway down where a large white house with a cherry red front door stood.

She put her car in park in the middle of the long driveway, not bothered that her step-mom would bitch about the "oil stains" that would forever mark the driveway. She then hopped out of the large car, fearing that her slender ankles would snap from the drop that always seemed just a little too long.

"Gabs!" she heard the voice of an angel yell from somewhere nearby. She whipped her head around to see the source's face.

The boy approaching her had the most beautiful face she had ever seen. His perfectly sculpted body cut across the grass between her house and the large Tudor style home on the left with a walk that belonged on a runway. The boy's brilliant blue eyes sparkled under the moonlight and his tan skin seemed to have a heavenly glow.

"Hey Troy," Gabriella responded calmly. Troy Bolton had been her neighbor her whole life. They hung out with the same group at school, "the popular crowd", but they had never been particularly close. Gabriella blamed herself for this and her inability to think of anything remotely interesting to say around him. When he was around, her personality seemed to shoot out the window, leaving her in a robot like shell, programmed to respond to questions and nothing more. Suddenly, she wished she was wearing jeans to hide her too-big for her liking calves.

Troy smiled a beautiful smile at her, exposing his flawlessly white teeth, "You coming to the game with everyone tomorrow night?"

"First basketball game of the season?" Gabriella questioned. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," she answered, flashing her own set of brilliant pearls at the boy.

"You better not, cause we're gonna kick Menendez's ass. And you're going to Barefoot after, right?"

"Of course, and before you ask, I'm going to the Evans' party too," she informed Troy referring to Ryan and Sharpay Evans, the two wealthiest members of their group.

He nodded and grinned at the girl, "Good to know. I gotta get home, I was shooting hoops and saw you pull up, but my parents are probably ready for dinner."

"See you tomorrow," Gabriella said as the boy walked the other way. She cursed herself silently as she headed towards the overbearing red door. Why could she never think of anything remotely interesting to say to him or ask him. They sat at the same table at lunch and even when they were in the same group conversation their interaction never stemmed outside of the occasional, 'Hey Gabriella, if you're not gonna finish you're fries can I have them?' Even when they were both drunk at parties, all inhibitions washed away, Gabriella could never bring herself to talk to him. They had been friends at one point, back when they spent their time in diapers and sandboxes. Then boys got cooties, and by the time they didn't Gabriella had lost all verbal function in his presence.

"I'm home," Gabriella called out as she stepped into the dimly lit foyer. On the floor she was stepping on, was a leopard skin rug Gabriella was pretty sure was real. She had never bothered to ask, out of disgust at both the thought of it being real and the hideous design her step mother thought was 'an elegant addition to the house.'

"I'm in the kitchen," her step-mom yelled back.

Gabriella made her way towards the kitchen, passing the family room, living room, and study on the way. On the walls were more tacky animal print designs and obscure African artwork her step-mom had picked up on a trip to South Africa. Gabriella couldn't stand the decor, when her mom was alive the house had been classy and elegant. Her mom never would have even considered putting disturbing tribal masks and animals skins on the wall and trying to pass them off as artwork. When her dad married her step mom the first thing Holly did was redecorate the entire house. She had tried to redecorate Gabriella's bedroom, but even at ten Gabriella insisted that the new family member stay out of her business.

"Hey Holly," Gabriella said to the blonde woman leaned against the counter when she reached the kitchen. The room was decorated in rich browns and reds and golds, it was the only room in the house besides her own that Gabriella could remotely stand.

"Hi sweetie," the woman said. She was wearing a black Juicy Couture track suit that exposed her perfectly flat stomach, heels, and a diamond choker. Holly Montez was the only person Gabriella knew that had to wear diamonds and stilettos to sit at home by herself. She ran a hand through her over processed straight, blonde hair, a stark contrast from Gabriella's soft black waves, and smiled at her step-daughter. "How was school?"

Gabriella shrugged at Holly's attempted at a maternal side. "It was fine," she responded dully.

"Well that's good," Holly said looking at a magazine in front of her, clearly bored with her step-daughter already. "I can't decide between Thai and Indian food for dinner. Do you have a preference?"

"Dad hates Indian," Gabriella reminded her step-mom.

Holly looked up from her magazine, "He's working late. One of his patients had an emergency and he had to go back to the hospital."

Carlos Montez was a Cardiologist, the best in Spring Lake Meadows. He was famous for always having the right diagnosis and almost always being able to save his patients. Being the best sometimes didn't leave a lot of time for his family. Before his first wife, Anna, died he always made time for her and their daughter. After she died he threw himself into his work, taking on more patients then he could make time for and teaching MCAT prep courses at the local university. Once he remarried, Gabriella had hoped it would get better, but it didn't, if anything he worked even longer hours and shifts at the hospital. It might have bothered Gabriella less if it didn't mean that she was stuck at home with Holly all of the time.

"Well, I already ate," Gabriella lied.

Holly examined her step-daughter closely, "You're looking little thin these days, Gab. Where did you eat?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, Holly was one to talk about being thin. She was the queen of having two bites of a salad and then announcing how stuffed she was to the whole table. "A few girls from the team went to Barefoot Grill after practice."

Her step-mom raised a blonde eyebrow like she doubted this story, but she nodded anyway, "Fine, if you want any I'm sure there will be plenty."

"Thanks, I have homework so..." Gabriella trailed off and walked back towards the foyer and up the spiral staircase.

When she got to her room she collapsed onto her pink bed, utterly exhausted. Her stomach let out a low growl, but she ignored the feeling. Gabriella didn't have an eating disorder, she was on a diet, at least that was what she told herself. The diet had started innocently, but then it quickly spiraled out of control.

"I look so fat," Gabriella Montez's best friend Taylor McKessie whined staring at her bikini-clad reflection in Gabriella's full length mirror. She had on a white bikini that looked amazing against her darker complexion, the white looked vibrant against the skin and she looked far from fat.

Gabriella and Sharpay Evans were lounging on Gabriella's bed in their bathing suits, ready to meet the rest of their friends at Mickler's Lake to celebrate the end of their sophomore year with a day of drinking, swimming, and tanning. "Don't even talk about fat, I've gained like three pounds this year," Sharpay said.

Both Gabriella and Taylor raised their eyebrows at their bone thin friend. Sharpay was the thinnest of the three girls, she was almost too thin, but it was natural. She had been blessed with a good metabolism and could eat whatever she pleased and rarely see any consequences.

Gabriella bit her lip and studied Sharpay's pink bikini wearing form. If Sharpay thought of herself as fat, Gabriella didn't want to think about how her friend saw her body. Gabriella thought about the waffles she had eaten for breakfast at Mama G's and wrinkled her forehead in disgust. On all of those weekend mornings had she even considered how many calories she was ingesting into her body? Suddenly her thighs seemed larger than life, how could she not have noticed how fat she had gotten? She had always thought that being a runner meant that she had a free pass when it came to junk food, but clearly she couldn't run enough in a year to burn of the number of calories in anything on the menu at Mama G's and Barefoot.

"What if we all start a diet together?" Gabriella suggested to her two best friends. If she had a support system to remind her how many calories were in those mixed drinks at parties and how much fat was in one slice of pizza there was no way she would make any slip ups.

Taylor and Sharpay nodded slowly, thinking about the idea. "That would be fabulous," Sharpay said, tossing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders. "I read in Shape Magazine that any diet is much more effective if you have someone to help you. It gives you motivation."

Gabriella laughed, "And I could seriously use some motivation because the food on the grill is going to be calling my name a couple beers in."

Her friends nodded and giggled in agreement. Drinking tended to add on the some calories, and not necessarily because of the calories in alcohol, but everything seemed so appealing under a drunken haze. Well, everything except carrot sticks.

Gabriella stood up from her place on her bed and stepped in front of the mirror Taylor had abandoned. Just yesterday night she had loved her body. She had worn a new pair of white shorts and a bright teal halter top to a party at their friend Jason Cross' house and felt fabulous and confident as she walked into the crowd. Now, staring at her unsightly reflection in the mirror, she bit her lip. What had she been thinking? Her thunder thighs were not anything meant to slip into a pair of shorts, and her arms were huge and flabby, like an old lady's. She had read in Cosmo that halter tops accentuated her arms, well right now she needed something to hide her arms, anything but accentuate them. Her simple black bathing suit felt disgusting on her body. There was no way in hell she could wear a bathing suit to the lake, especially not if Troy was going to be there.

"I don't feel very well," she said to her friends, still staring at her distorted reflection. It wasn't a lie, just looking at her body in the mirror was making her feel ill.

Concern crossed over Taylor's dark features. "Are you still hungover," the darker girl asked her olive toned friend.

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah," she lied, "I think I'm just going to stay home and relax today."

Sharpay narrowed her caramel colored eyes at her friend, "You can't skip the first trip of the season to Mickler's Lake."

Gabriella ripped her eyes away from the mirror and focused them on her blonde, socially oriented friend. Sharpay wouldn't miss a party if her life depended on it, on St. Patrick's Day that year she had been home sick for a week with the flu and spent the entire party throwing up in the bathroom, but she was there. She hated missing out on anything and the only thing she hated more was when people had fun without her. Wrapping her mind around missing out on the summer's first day at Mickler's Lake was impossible.

"I just really don't feel well," Gabriella insisted. "I won't be any fun and you won't be able to have fun because you'll just end up taking care of me the whole time."

Telling her she wouldn't have any fun caught Sharpay. Fun was what Sharpay lived for. Gabriella and Taylor both had lives outside of parties and their social lives with running and Scholastic Decathlon and both girls were vying for the first spot in their class. Sharpay on the other hand was defined by her social life. It was what she was good at and more importantly it was what she really cared about. Even at the end of their sophomore year she knew she wanted to be an Event Planner so she could truly make parties and social events her life.

"Well, I guess if you really want to miss out," Sharpay sighed, running her hands through her shiny, Barbie blonde hair.

"We can stay with you!" Taylor said enthusiastically. Out of the three girls Taylor always had the least fun at parties. She didn't really like drinking so most times she offered to stay sober and be the designated driver. She still had fun just being with her friends, but it was never on the same level as anyone else at the party. Since she stayed sober, it also fell on her shoulders to take care of any of her friends that were making fools out of themselves or throwing up.

Gabriella shook her head, she wanted to be alone to think and maybe try and run off the waffles from earlier. "You guys go ahead, I just wanted to have a veg out day."

Her friends looked her unsure about what to do when Sharpay made the decision for them. "Well, I guess me and Tay are going then."

"Have fun guys, tell everyone I said hey," Gabriella said, smiling weakly at her friends.

"Call me if you need anything or want some company," Taylor offered.

Gabriella nodded and watched as her friends left the room, closing her door behind them. Alone at last, she ran down the hallway to her parents' bedroom and went in. There was a massive portrait of Holly and their dad from their wedding day hanging over the couples bed. Normally Gabriella stopped and looked at it just to roll her eyes and question why anyone wanted a picture that large of themselves hanging on a wall. Today, instead of its gaudiness, something about the picture stuck out at Gabriella. Holly was thin, thin and as much as Gabriella hated to admit it, beautiful. Her collarbone jutted out of her body so sharply, so perfectly, Gabriella couldn't believe she had never noticed it before.

She finally tore her eyes away from her step-mom's collarbone, vowing that hers would look the same one day. She walked across the room to her parents bathroom and pushed open the mahogany door. On the floor next to the counter was the object she was looking for. The chrome gleamed and reflected the rest of the room in a distorted view. Gabriella stepped on top of the object and a number flashed across the top. She stared at the number for a moment, it just seemed so high. Ten pounds. When the number that flashed above the smooth chrome surface was ten digits lower than what it was now, she would be satisfied. Ten little numbers and she would be beautiful.

She left her parents bathroom, pausing again to admire Holly's collarbone before she left their room as well. As she walked down the hallway back towards her own room, she had no idea that the object she had just stepped on would become her life. She was so sure that in ten small numbers, everything would be perfect, ten numbers was all it would take. Gabriella had no idea that after ten numbers she would look in the mirror, still unsatisfied, and insist on five more. And then she would insist on more on top of that, never happy, never content. The lower the number ticked, the closer she would convince herself she was to beautiful. She also didn't know that the road she had just laid out for herself was filled with binges and purges and that sometimes the number would tick back up.

No, when Gabriella Montez left the object she had no idea of the monster she had unleashed.


In the Tudor style home across the lawn Troy Bolton was playing his XBOX 360, yelling to his friend Zeke Baylor through a headset that resembled the popstars of the early two-thousands microphones. Suddenly, the television screen in front of him flashed GAME OVER, and Troy glanced at the clock on his nightstand. It was 8:00 already, probably time to make a little effort at getting homework done.

He removed the headset from his chestnut colored head and set it down on top of the game system. He sat down at his desk and opened his Calculus textbook. The window over his desk faced the large white house next door and right into a certain raven haired beauty's bedroom. He glanced up from his text book and saw the girl he had spoken to just an hour and a half earlier staring at herself in the mirror. There was no denying her beauty. Gabriella Montez was the one girl that Troy Bolton didn't know how to play. The girl he actually thought he could care about for more than sex and she barely acknowledged him when he tried to talk to her. Whenever she talked to any of their other friends she was witty and charming and could make anyone within one hundred feet of her smile. With him though, she barely gave him the time of day.

Troy sighed and pulled his blinds shut, thinking about the beautiful girl one house away, with no idea that she was thinking about him as well.