Something New

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical or anything else.

Chapter 1

Moving to a new school is always hard for anyone. You have to learn a new schedule, a new school, and find new friends. Don't forget about getting acclimated to a new town, a new house, and a whole new life. For some people, moving is the absolute worst thing in the world. However, for Gabriella Montez, it was just something that happened much too often. But just because it happened much too often didn't help make it any better. Over time she learned that relationships and friendships didn't really matter because she would be moving soon again anyway. That's exactly what Gabriella was thinking when she pulled up in front of the new house that she was supposed to call home.

"Mija, what's wrong? I thought that you were excited to move to Albuquerque! We're only an hour or so away from Abuelo and Abuela's house, remember." Maria studied her daughter's sour face for only a second more, then opened the door of their mid-sized SUV and proceeded to the front door of their new house.

Gabriella's stomach was churning. She didn't want to have to do this all over again. Because of Maria's job, they had moved seven times in the last five years, which didn't allow Gabriella to settle into a place for very long. She really liked her old school in Pittsburgh and finally thought that maybe she would be able to stay long enough to finish high school there, but like always for some reason her mother was always needed at another branch in her corporation. Maria knew how much it hurt Gabriella to move so often, but she had no choice about the moving situations. It was just the way that things always worked out.

Gabriella stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk. Everything in Albuquerque was so different from the life that she had left back in Pittsburgh. The sidewalks were neatly paved. The houses along her street weren't too close, but they were close enough for families to mingle. From the outside, the house was very charming; someplace where Gabriella could see herself and her mother living. She continued up to the front door and twisted the handle, allowing herself inside her new residence.

"Mija, come into the kitchen. Look how wonderful this!" Maria exclaimed. "I mean, the kitchen in Miami was very nice, but this is fabulous! I can't wait to cook in here!"

Gabriella giggled at her mother's excitement as she walked into the kitchen. "Wow, this is really nice." Gabriella said, trying to make her mother happy.

"This house is just great. I feel like we're going to be here for a while."

And Gabriella could only hope that would happen.

After Maria stopped marveling over the kitchen, the moving truck finally came and the movers helped bring all of the Montez's items inside. Maria put away all of the pots and pans, still marveling over the fantastic kitchen that she had just acquired.

Meanwhile, Gabriella made her way up to her new bedroom with boxes marked "Gabriella's Room". The movers had already placed her bed, cabinets, desk, and bookshelf in the room. The room was fairly large and was painted a pretty shade of purple. Purple was Gabriella's favorite color and she was happy that the room was a nice color, meaning that she wouldn't have to paint it. Gabriella also had her own bathroom which was only accessable from inside her room, which didn't really impact her because she was so used to sharing with her mother and her mother only. The best part of the bedroom was the balcony that looked out over yard. There was a large tree parallel to the balcony, which provided shade for it in the hottest parts of the day, according to Gabriella's mother.

Slowly, she began to place all of her clothes in the drawers. Putting her clothes away in a new room was something that Gabriella found herself doing much too often. It was nice to move things around once in a while though.

Once she finished putting her clothes away Gabriella moved to the next most important part of her room; her bookshelf. Gabriella had always been the quiet type who would rather sit in the corner and read rather than socialize with her peers. It wasn't that she wasn't a friendly person, it was just that she would rather spend time doing something that she loved. It also didn't help that she didn't have many friends and trying to keep up with a relationship that she knew would only last for a few months wasn't even worth it.

It was around seven when Gabriella finished putting together her new room. Her stomach began to growl, so she decided to head downstairs to see what her mother planned on doing for dinner.

"Hey Mija." Maria said as she placed a picture of Gabriella on the mantle of the fireplace. The living room was almost fully put together, although there were still a few stacks of boxes in the corner of the room.

"Wow, this looks great!" Gabriella exclaimed as her eyes wandered around the room. "I really like this house.

Maria took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. "I didn't think that I'd be able to put a living room together so quickly, but I guess I was wrong!" Gabriella giggled, but Maria knew that something was just wasn't right with her daughter. "Gabi, how about we head out for some dinner? I'm sure that we'll be able to find something quickly."

Gabriella hesitated for a moment before answering. "Sure, but I'm kinda tired. Do you think we could just get it to go? I want to get a good night's sleep before school tomorrow."

Maria signaled for Gabriella to take a seat next to her. "That's it, that's what's bothering you right? I know that you hate starting new in a new school, but at least this time everyone will be starting new with you."

"No, I'm really okay. I just want to get a good rest tonight." Gabriella lied. She didn't want to go to school tomorrow at all. She had looked on the website for her new high school, East High, and was a little concerned. The school had tons of spirit, phenomenal sports teams, an amazing drama department, and a very challenging honors program. However, those weren't the things that she was concerned about. The school was very small, which meant that everyone knew everyone and they would all know who the new girl was when she came. Being the new girl at a large school wasn't hard at all, because most people didn't know who was actually in their grade and who wasn't. East High was going to be a different story.

"Gabi," Maria spoke softly as she grabbed her daughter's hand, "you are the smartest and friendliest girl that I know. You're going to have no problem at this school, and after this year you're going to be going away to college and everything will be okay."

Gabriella looked into her mother's eyes. "I hope so." She replied as she took her hand away from her mother's hold and started back upstairs.

Hey guys! I hope you like the story so far. I really want to know what you think or what you want to happen with the story. I'm not exactly sure if it's going to be a series or what, but it's not going to be a single story! Thanks for reading; please reviewww!

~Meg