CHAPTER 1

BEEP! Troy Bolton jerked awake with a start as his alarm clock sprung to life. He groaned. Monday morning; not only five more days of school, but also five whole days until his next basketball match! His only bright point was basketball practice every day after school – and seeing his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, of course.

"Hurry up, Troy!" Mrs Bolton called up to him. "There's a surprise waiting for you at school today…"

Meanwhile, Gabriella had already been awake for hours. Her mum had been trying to convince her to lie in, but she had just been reading such a good book. She couldn't wait for school; all that maths and science! However, the fun didn't stop there – she had Scholastic Decathlon club after school! And, of course, she might try to get into school early so she could chat to her boyfriend Troy Bolton…

As it happened, Gabriella only just got to homeroom on time. She had been completely immersed in her chemistry notes and only realised the time when the bell jerked her back into reality. She raced to homeroom and went straight to her seat at the back of the class, only pausing to smile at Troy who smiled back at her, the sort of smile that made her insides melt.

"Now, class, listen up," Ms Darbus said, her eyes twinkling and her voice musical. "We have a new girl coming in today…" She trailed off, as there was a knock on the door and an extremely pretty girl with curly blond hair and blue eyes walked in. Gabriella heard Troy gasp and looked at him to see him with his eyes wide and mouth open. Most of the boys in the room looked the same way. She felt confused and hurt but had no time to contemplate Troy's peculiar behaviour as Ms Darbus started speaking again.

"As I was saying, Kate Bentley will be joining our class for the foreseeable future. I trust you will all make her feel very welcome…do I have any volunteers for showing her round?"

Gabriella was about to raise her hand – after all, she had been a new student herself not so long ago – until she saw something that shocked her so much that she had to pinch herself to check she wasn't dreaming.

Troy had raised his hand.

"I'll show her around," he volunteered, leaving not only Gabriella dumbstruck but the whole of the homeroom. After all, Troy never showed new students around – with the exception of Gabriella – because he was just too busy with basketball!

Gabriella was confused and even a little jealous, put it to the back of her mind.

"Troy's just being friendly," she tried to convince herself. But when she saw them sitting next to each other at the front of the class chatting as if they'd known each other all their lives, it was hard to feel so positive.

Thanks for reading! This is my first chapter I've published on a fanfiction website so please leave me reviews to tell me what you think thanks!