Gabriella
All right. I took a deep breath in. I couldn't seem to find the strength to let it out. Here we go again. I put my hand on the door, and pushed it open. A rush of air hit my face, although I think I imagined it. I slowly released the breath I had been holding in, and took a step forward. Then another, and another. This isn't so bad, I thought.
"Yo, move it, will you? You're holding up the door." I turned around. A large group of people was stuck behind me, waiting for me to walk in.
"Come on!" The group chorused. I gulped. Great… embarrassment on the first day. I ran away from the door, feeling my eyes burn. I ducked into the women's restroom on the left, and splashed my face with water. I grabbed a piece of paper towel and wiped my face. I clutched the sink until my knuckles were white and then walked out. I knew the routine – go to the main office, get my schedule, go to my classes, do my homework, be labeled as a geek, have a few friends, and then move a year later. Same old, same old. With my dad being a scientist, we're always on the move, be it Australia or Missouri. This time we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We haven't settled down for more than a year since I was three. In the beginning it was hard, but now I'm completely used to it. The first day of school is always the most difficult part of the transition, though.
I walked out of the restroom and looked around. This school is big. I wandered for a few minutes, searching for the main office. I think someone figured out I was lost, because after a while a girl approached me. She had dark, chocolate skin, and wide eyes. She wore a green tank top and a short mini skirt, with a purple headband in her black hair. She tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hi, I'm Taylor." She stuck out her hand. I assumed she wanted me to shake it. I did.
"And your name is…?" She smiled, waiting politely as I stood there stupidly. She probably thinks I'm an idiot. I straightened my posture.
"I'm, uh, Gabriella Montez." I smiled back in response.
"You got some, er, lipstick on your tooth." She pointed at my front tooth.
"Oh, thanks." Damn it. Good job, Gabi. You were in the bathroom for ten minutes and you didn't even bother to check your teeth for lipstick?
I kept my hand in front of my mouth, trying to be subtle.
"No problem." She looked me up and down. "Are you new? I don't think I've seen you around before."
"Yeah." Quite the talker, I mocked myself.
"Oh, cool. Well, what are you looking for? I'm sure I can help you."
"The main office. I need my schedule."
"Follow me!" She took off with an almost skip in her step. I hurried to keep up. "It's just right through here." She stopped and pointed at a small red door with a little slot as a window.
"Thanks," I said.
"My pleasure."
I walked inside to the small office and peered outside the window. Taylor was still standing there.
"Excuse me. May I help you?" A stout woman was sitting behind a short desk. Her hair was grey with blond high lights, and her face looked like an art project gone wrong – makeup was splattered all over her face.
"Yeah, um, I'm new, and I need my schedule," I explained quietly.
"I'm gonna need your name, address –."
I cut her off, "Gabriella Montez, 326 Bellview Road, Eleventh Grade, birth date February seventeen." I knew the routine too well.
"Here it is," the woman said, a look of confusion on her face. She handed me a schedule, color-coded and all.
Without saying "thanks", I turned on my heel and walked out of the compact room. Taylor was still standing there.
"Did you get it?" She asked, grabbing the schedule from my hand.
"Yup." Why does she care? I wondered.
"Cool! We have the same bio classes! Oh and the same lunch period… awesome. I'll walk you to your first class." She chattered away while I was lost in my own thoughts. I gathered that she had figured out I wasn't much of a talker, so she filled the silence with her voice.
"… and that's how I got my dog," she finished. "Here we are!" We stopped walking and she opened the door in front of me. "See you at lunch. Good luck!" She waved enthusiastically. I smiled meekly in return.
I walked into the classroom where a teacher stood in front of the room. Teenagers all around me were talking, catching up about who developed more over the summer or where they got such a dark tan. They were all too into their conversations to notice me. As usual, I thought. I sighed and sat down in a seat in the back of the room.
"Class!" The teacher stood up. "My name is Ms. Darbus. Welcome to Eleventh Grade theatre class." She moved around the room, smiling at every single one of the people she passed. She looked at the sheet of paper she was holding in her hand. "It appears we have a new student we must welcome! I would like everyone to say hello to Ms. Gabriella Montez." She pointed a finger at me. A few people murmured "hi", but otherwise the room was unenthusiastic. "Do you have anything you would like to say, Ms. Montez?" Ms. Darbus asked. I shook my head.
"Ah, a bit shy are we?" She smiled, obviously pitying me. "That's alright!" She turned back to the front of the room and exclaimed, "by the end of the year, you all will be theatrical geniuses filled with sun shine!" Skeptical glances plagued the room. I slumped deeper into my chair. Here we go again.
Troy
"Get a load of this one." Chad nudged my shoulder.
"I know, dude. She's insane," I responded, referring to Ms. Darbus. She rambled on and on about how we will each be 'theatrical geniuses filled with sun shine' by the end of the year. That's a load of crap. I'm a basketball player - that's just not what I do.
The bell rang. Finally! Thank God. I looked up at the ceiling. I owe you one.
"That class is such a rip off. It sucks we gotta take it in order to graduate," Chad said.
"Yeah, seriously. There was not one interesting thing in that class."
"Ah, I beg to differ, my friend. Were you paying attention in the beginning?" Chad asked.
I stopped and stared at him. "I haven't paid attention in class since third grade."
"Well Ms. Darbus introduced this new girl. She was hot."
"Not as hot as Sharpay, though, right?"
"I dunno, man. She might have some competition this year," Chad grinned. He elbowed me. Click, click, click. I heard the sound of high heels echoing through the hall ways. We looked at each other. Speak of the devil.
"TROY! Oh Troy! Yoohoo!" Her voice rang in the halls. Her blond hair was blonder than ever, and she wore enough pink to be the next telly tubby. I tried to pretend like I didn't hear her, but I think just about every living thing within a three mile radius could hear her.
"Troy! Slow down!" She giggled and walked as fast as she could in high heels. Just keep walking, I thought. A hand grabbed my shoulder. I flinched as it swiftly turned me around.
"TROY!" She screamed again, as if the first three times weren't enough.
"Sharpay!" I said with mock enthusiasm.
"You didn't return any of my phone calls this summer. I worried." She pouted her lips.
"I was out of the country," I lied.
"Where were you? Like, Texas or something?" She playfully hit me on the shoulder.
"How'd you guess?" I didn't even bother to tell her Texas was a state in this country.
The bell rang. I looked up again. You're a good guy. "Oh, looks like I'm gonna be late for my next class! See you later, I guess." I quickly walked away from her, leaving her staring at the space where I was standing in moments ago. I saw Chad at the end of the hallway. "Dude!" I shouted. "Wait up!"
Once I caught up with him, a small smirk was sitting smugly on his face. "What?" I asked, trying to imitate his expression.
"Oh nothing," he continued to smirk.
"No, come on." I punched his shoulder.
"You're flirting back."
"I am not."
"Are too."
"Chad, seriously. She's gorgeous, but like, she's a friggin' idiot. She thought Texas wasn't in the United States." The smirk was replaced with a smile. "And her brother follows her everywhere. If I tried to make a move on her, which I don't even want to do, he would be there, watching me try to get some action from his sister." He laughed. "We'll pretend like this never happened," I offered.
"Agreed." We approached the stair case. "See you at lunch?"
"Since kindergarten," I responded. I had been best friends with Chad for as long as I could remember. We always made the basketball team together, and we confided in each other for everything. The bell rang again. I rushed up the stairs, watching my feet catch up beneath me. Suddenly I felt a body bump into me.
"Sorry," the body mumbled. I looked up. It was a girl. She looked familiar.
"'Sokay." I stopped. She tried to get past me, but I was blocking the stairwell. "Do I know you?"
She seemed shocked. "Uh, I don't think so. I'm new." Then it clicked. She was the as-hot-as-Sharpay girl Chad was talking about.
"I think you're in my theatre class," I said. I wasn't sure where I was going with this.
"Cool." We stood there for a minute, looking at each other. She broke the silence. "I've, um, gotta get to class." She brushed passed me quickly, and in a moment, she was gone.
