Ashley Evans went through her list one last time. She wanted to make sure she had absolutely everything before she left for school. Her brother, Ryan, had given her a list of the school supplies she would most likely need. Sharpay had taken her shopping to buy clothes for school. If this was going to be her first day at school, she didn't want to make a fool of herself. Normally on her first day of school she would wake up, eat breakfast, and start out the day with math in her pajamas. You see, Ashley Evans had been home schooled all her life.

She had finally convinced her parents to let her go to high school with Ryan and Sharpay. It had taken many months and many bribes, but they finally agreed that she could go to public school. Unfortunately, it was already the end of February. Her parents had shown her class work to the principal and he had told them she would have no problem starting late. In fact, she could be a senior if she wanted to because she had done all the state requirements through twelfth grade. But she wanted to be with people her age. Besides, it would be awkward to graduate before her older siblings. So here she was, packing up her backpack and checking her appearance in the mirror to get ready for her first day of high school. She had the Evans family blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a skinny but decent looking figure with long legs toned by the dance lessons she had been forced to take with her siblings. Sharpay had advised her about what to wear for school. She picked out a plain blue tank top with lace around the bottom over a white tank of the same design, black pants, and black stylish boots.

"Ash, hurry up!" Ryan yelled up the stairs.

"Coming!" she yelled back down. Ryan was driving her to school. Sharpay never got up before seven, and Ashley wanted to get there early so she could find all her classes. She threw her hair up in a messy ponytail while she ran down the stairs and got in the car with Ryan.

"You ready for your first day?" he asked her.

"I think so. Are you sure I have everything I need?"

"You have that and more. You'll be fine. And I know you said you want to find your own group of friends to eat lunch with, but you can always come eat with Sharpay and me at lunch. Everyone is interested in meeting you. They always forget we have a younger sister."

"Only by one year!"

"Yeah, but that's still younger." She smiled, glad she had her brother and sister at school with her, just in case she needed them.

The rest of the car ride Ashley pestered Ryan with questions about East High. She asked about teachers, the clubs, and even though she'd heard about them many times before, she still asked about Ryan and Sharpay's new friends.

She loved to hear about how Troy, the basketball star, and Gabriella, the new girl, stole the lead parts of the musical from her siblings. No one had done that in so many years Ashley didn't think it was possible. She had gone to the show and wasn't surprised that Sharpay and Ryan didn't get the parts. Troy and Gabriella were amazing. That was the night she met the rest of their friends: Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, and many others. She already knew Kelsi through the drama club.

They arrived at the school and Ryan showed Ashley where her classes were. They were all relatively easy to find. Ryan went to meet his friends in his homeroom, so Ashley went to her homeroom. She met her teacher and took her seat. The rest of the students began filing in a few minutes later.

Most of the classes she found easier than she expected. She thought some of the material would challenge her after being away from it for so long. Instead she found it easy and realized she was well ahead of her classmates. She decided not to draw attention to herself and pretended to be busy working until the end of class. Then she turned it in. She caught some of the names of her classmates but most ignored her and stayed with their own cliques. By the time lunch came around she was beginning to wonder if she'd made the right choice.

When the lunch bell rang she filed out with the rest of the students. In the cafeteria she immediately spotted her brother and sister with their friends. They were all talking and laughing with each other. She continued to scan the cafeteria for a group to sit with, but just like in her classes, her peers already had their groups formed. She knew her brother wouldn't mind her sitting with them, but she didn't want to look desperate in front of her sister, so she walked into the hallway and prepared to sit down and eat the lunch she brought with her from home.

"What are you doing?" Ashley looked up to find out who had asked the question. Standing above her and to the right was a boy she didn't recognize. He had short brown hair that fell into his eyes, a small silver hoop in the top of his right ear, blue jeans, brand name t-shirt, muscular arms, and a cocky grin on his face. But what really caught her attention were his eyes. They were dark green with flecks of brown, and a strange glint flashed across them whenever he blinked.

"What?" she asked back.

"I said what are you doing out here in the hallway?"

"Eating." She noticed the glint again.

"It looked like you were looking for a place to sit earlier. How about you give me that lunch of yours and you can sit with me and my group at lunch?" And there was the cocky grin.

"Then what would I eat?" He shrugged. She wondered what he would do if she said no. Then she wondered if maybe he was only asking this because he couldn't afford his own lunch. She decided one day without lunch wouldn't kill her. "Okay," she told him. He grabbed the bag of food from her and before she could get up he pulled her up roughly and dragged her over to his table.

"What's your name?" he asked her just before they got to the table.

"Ashley Evans."

"Guys, this is Ashley Evans. She's eating with us today." He introduced each of his friends sitting at the table and then finally himself. "My name's Dylan Gruel."

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"Who's your sister eating lunch with?" Troy Bolton asked the Evans twins.

"It looks like Dylan, the captain of the JV wrestling team," Sharpay answered.

"Why's she eating with him instead of us?" Chad Danforth asked. Sharpay only shrugged and the conversations resumed.

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After lunch ended, Ashley walked to her next class with Dylan because they had the same class. The classes in the second part of the day were as easy as the first. Once they were over Ashley stood outside by Ryan's car and waited. And waited. And waited. While she was waiting she saw Chad and Taylor walking towards her.

"ASHLEY!" Chad yelled. She didn't feel like yelling back across the parking lot, so she waited until they got closer before responding.

"What?"

"Ryan asked me to give you a ride home because the drama club's having a meeting after school about the musical or something."

"Okay." She followed Chad and Taylor, who was also getting a ride with Chad, to his car.

"Sorry about the mess," he pointed at the piles of trash and clothes covering the back seat. "I didn't clean it this weekend; too busy with homework and all." Taylor just rolled her eyes and Ashley chuckled silently. Chad knew the way to the Evans' house so Ashley hoped she could just sit in the back and avoid conversation. "So why were you eating with Dylan today?"

"He offered to let me eat lunch with him."

"Hmm. I never pictured him as much of a gentleman." Ashley shrugged, not sure what to say to that.

"So are your classes hard?" Taylor asked.

"No. I've already done all my work through twelfth grade so this is review."

"Wait, you mean you could be graduating right now?" Ashley nodded.

"Then why aren't you?!" Chad asked, unable to understand why someone would want to go to high school instead of graduate early.

"It would be weird to graduate before my older siblings."

"Oh, I guess it would be. So why did you decide to start high school now?" Ashley just shrugged again. Chad talked with Taylor the rest of the ride and Ashley said goodbye to them when they got to her house.

"Thanks for the ride."

"No problem." He drove off and Ashley walked into a silent house.

Her parents had left her a note on the table saying they had gone for a trip and would be back in a week. When they got back they would ask her about school. After a two-minute summary of how school was going her parents would say "That's nice honey" and get back to work. Ashley quickly finished her homework and decided to read until her brother and sister got home. They would actually want to hear about her first day of high school.

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"Ashley, how come you didn't eat with us today?" Sharpay asked. They were sitting in the kitchen at the counter.

"I wanted to find my own group of friends instead of just being with yours."

"But Dylan Gruel? How did you meet him?"

"He invited me to eat with him," Ashley said again. She wondered why everyone seemed so surprised that he would invite her to eat with him. She didn't actually tell anyone what really happened, but he had come up to her. "What was the drama meeting about?"

Sharpay went into a long story of what Ms. Darbus talked about at the meeting. They discussed the success of the musical, the discovery of Troy and Gabriella, the plans for the spring production, and other stuff Ashley didn't really care about. She listened only to be polite to her sister. Sharpay had changed a little since she had been beaten by Gabriella, but she was still Sharpay and loved to talk about herself. When Sharpay finally stopped talking, Ryan stepped in to ask Ashley about her classes.

Ashley helped them with their homework as usual and then watched West Side Story with Ryan during dinner. She enjoyed watching old musicals with her brother. Sharpay was usually busy doing something in her room, so Ashley grew up spending time with Ryan. Her favorite was actually My Fair Lady, but she wouldn't make Ryan watch that.

That night she went to bed and dreamed about her next day at school, something she was actually looking forward to.