Chapter One – Reminiscences
(Gabriella)

Gabriella got up. It was the first day of her senior year of high school, and she was excited. She thought about the wonderful dream she had been having. She and Troy had been having a picnic on the beach. She realized this couldn't have been real, because there was no beach in the vicinity of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her friends attended East High. Her boyfriend, Troy, was captain of the basketball team that consisted mostly of him and his buddies, Zeke, Jason, and Chad.

Gabriella walked to her closet, looking for clothes. Her eyes fell on the red dress she had worn after Troy and his teammates won the state championships. That had also been the day that she and her friend, Taylor, had won the scholastic decathlon and also the day that she and Troy had been cast in the Winter Musicale, much to the annoyance of Drama Club co-presidents, Sharpay and Ryan, who had become understudies. The night of the second performance, Troy had had a Basketball dinner that he just couldn't miss, resulting in Ryan and Gabriella performing, because the show must go on. They had a lot of fun. Sharpay had been disappointed that she didn't get to perform.

Gabriella was pulled out of her reverie by her mother, who announced that breakfast was ready. Gabriella quickly picked out a cute outfit, pulled a brush through her hair, and went downstairs. Her mother had cooked her breakfast every morning since they had moved to Albuquerque, including the whole summer, when Gabriella, Troy, and their friends had worked at the country club that Sharpay and Ryan's parents owned. Sharpay had coerced Troy into singing with her, and it had snowballed horribly, until Gabriella had broken up with Troy. Fortunately for them, Ryan had saved their relationship and the Talent Show.

Gabriella looked down at the T she wore on a necklace. The T stood for Troy, of course. She smiled as she ate and then she heard a honk in the driveway. It was Troy in his truck. Gabriella gathered her books into her backpack, finished off her milk, and hurried outside to join him. When they got to school, they found all of their friends, including Sharpay and Ryan, who walked up beside them.

"Hey, Gabriella, Troy," said Ryan. "So, how was your summer?" All four friends laughed and walked to Ms. Darbus's homeroom.

Chapter Two – Mr. Fix-It Boy
(Ryan)

Ryan sat down in his desk behind his sister. Troy sat on her left, and usually Chad sat behind him, but he gave up his seat for Gabriella this year, which Ryan thought unusually nice of him, until he looked up and saw that Chad was trading seats with her to be closer to Taylor, with whom he apparently had struck up some kind of relationship.

Homeroom didn't start for another ten minutes, so Ms. Darbus was not there yet. Ryan turned to participate in the conversation Sharpay, Troy, and Gabriella were having.

"This year is so going to rock!" Troy was saying. The other three agreed.

"Right," said Sharpay. "There's the Fall Play, the Winter Talent Show, the Winter Musical, and the Spring Musical, and not to mention the Halloween Dance, Homecoming, the Snowball, the Valentine's Dance, the Semi-Formal, Prom, the Sadie Hawkins Dance–"

"Whoa, sis, slow down, it's just the first day of school," said Ryan. He was the only one to notice that Sharpay's eyes had been fixed on Troy during her entire speech. If Ryan wasn't careful, this year might turn into a repeat of that summer's fiasco. Sharpay had decided that she and Troy made a great couple, and that Gabriella was not the correct choice for him. Sharpay had coerced Troy into singing with her, Ryan had mobilized the Wildcats in a number starring himself and Gabriella, after Sharpay had cut her and Ryan's song. However, at the last minute, Sharpay cut the Wildcats from the program, and Gabriella broke up with Troy. Ryan stepped in, rescuing the relationship by sending Chad and Taylor with the T for Troy necklace to Gabriella's house, and also rescuing the show by tricking Troy into learning the song that he had been practicing with Gabriella. The show turned out wonderfully, and he, Ryan, had won the Star Dazzle award, due to the kindness of his sister. Ryan didn't expect that kindness to carry very much longer. In fact, he already suspected her of planning her newest ploy to ensnare Troy.

Presently, Ms. Darbus came into the room. She gave her usual greeting, "Good morning, class, please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices," and she began giving the announcements, including that the auditions for the Fall Play would be the next week. No one except Sharpay and Kelsi gave any enthusiasm to this. Soon the bell rang.

Ryan looked at his schedule and realized he had first period Geometry. As he ambled to the Math Department, he remembered how he had passed Algebra Two. Gabriella had been tutoring him. She had taught him how to change the problems into ones that he could understand and identify with. In return, Ryan had choreographed Troy's Basketball team's band, as well as Sharpay's all girl rock band, and Gabriella's solo that he had convinced her to do. The show had been splendid, and Sharpay had won the award, of course, even though she had had laryngitis, and had been lip-synching.

When he arrived in Geometry, he found that he was sharing the class with Troy, among other people. The two were extremely surprised. As the math class rambled on, Ryan took thorough notes, as Gabriella had taught him, and when he looked up at Troy, sitting on his right, he noticed that he was doing the exact same thing. This didn't come as a surprise to Ryan, he guessed that Gabriella had tutored him too, after all, they had been dating since her first arrival at East High right after Christmas Break junior year, not counting the three or four days during the summer when they had broken up.

Ryan silently reminisced about the night that Troy had been unable to make it to the performance of the Twinkle Towne Winter Musicale, and Ryan had had to step in to save the show. He wondered why it always came down to him to save things. Did everyone look at him and see the amazing hero, Mr. Fix-it-Boy? He wasn't sure he was okay with this, although he wasn't against it. It had been fun singing with Gabriella. Much more fun than singing with Sharpay, that's for sure. He remembered how angry Sharpay had been, when she had found out that he was going to perform without her. Ryan had known she would be, but he really hadn't braced himself for the ear-splitting screech that she did so often.

Ryan thought about that night more often than he thought about any other night in his school production history. Singing, dancing, acting, everything had seemed much more real with Gabriella. He had actually enjoyed himself. With Sharpay, she was always pushing and pulling him around, so that she was in the spotlight. He cast his mind around. The time they had done the Romeo and Juliet was just about the worst. The bell rang again, telling Ryan that it was time for his next class, History.

Chapter Three – Oliver Twist
(Troy)

Troy got up from his seat in Geometry and sighed. It was going to be a long semester if he had to sit through that every morning. He got up and consulted his schedule. He had English next. He went up the stairs to the English Department, and sat down in his next class. It wasn't until the bell rang again, that he noticed Sharpay sitting next to him. He groaned. This would be the longest day ever if he didn't stop having encounters with her.

The English Teacher assigned them to get into groups of two and discuss a book they were supposed to have read over the summer. Troy looked hopelessly around for anyone else to partner with, but it was too late.

"So, Troy, did you read the book?" asked Sharpay, rummaging in her pink sequined backpack for something. Troy actually had read the book, and he could tell by Sharpay's tone that she definitely hadn't. She had probably been too engrossed in the plans for the Midsummer's Night Talent Show at her country club, Troy thought.

"Yes, Sharpay, I read the book," said Troy, sighing.

"Good, because I didn't," said Sharpay. "What's it about?"

"Okay, well, in case you didn't know, the book is Oliver Twist, and it's about this orphan named Oliver, and he–" began Troy.

"Oliver Twist? I know what that's about, that's a musical. We did that a few years ago. I told Ms. Darbus that it wasn't a very good choice, because there were no roles for me to really shine in," said Sharpay. "It turned out okay because I played Rose, and Ryan was–"

"Sharpay, as much as I would love to hear about your musical stuff, we have an assignment to do," said Troy, cutting her off before she could detail the show.

"Right. So it starts with the boy named Oliver, and he's at the orphanage, and he asks for some more food, and the mean man tells him he can't have anymore food, and so he escapes from that place, and joins a pickpocket crew, and they sing as they go along," said Sharpay. As she began to reprise one of the musical's best known numbers, Troy sighed again. This was definitely going to be a long year.

Chapter Four – Disaster Zone
(Gabriella)

Meanwhile, Gabriella and her best friend, Taylor, were in Calculus 2 class. The class was very small, and consisted mostly of students on the scholastic decathlon team or the math team. Taylor and Gabriella were working on one of the tougher problems in the problem set.

"If the limit of the sin of 2x squared as x goes to 0 is equal to the square of the limit's square root, what does that tell us?" Gabriella asked Taylor. Taylor giggled.

"That when you take the square of the square root, you end up back where you started?" said Taylor. Gabriella groaned and put her head down on the desk. "Did you not study at all this summer?"

"No," said Gabriella. "I meant to but with being a lifeguard and the whole musical thing, there was just no time." Gabriella blushed. There probably would have been time if not for Troy.

"Please tell me this is not the doing of lunkhead basketball man," said Taylor. Gabriella nodded, and then giggled. That name always amused her.

"It's only the first day of school. I promise to study tonight, and I'll be good as new tomorrow," she said. At that moment, the bell rang. "See you at lunch," she said to Taylor, as she hurriedly stuffed her Calculus book, notes, and calculator into her bag. She consulted her schedule, and realized that her next class was History. When she arrived down the hall in the History Department, she almost ran into Ryan, who was coming out of the classroom she was entering.

"Hey," she said to him as she passed, smiling.

"Hey," he said back, also smiling. She sat down in her seat. Sharpay entered the classroom, looked around spotted Gabriella, and sat next to her. Gabriella smiled at Sharpay, who smiled back. Gabriella took the textbook that the teacher was handing out, and looked at the cover. It did say AP US History, and Gabriella wondered what Sharpay was doing there.

"Sharpay, you do know this is, like, really advanced history, right?" Gabriella asked Sharpay. Sharpay looked at her and nodded like she didn't almost fail history the year before. "You do remember that you almost failed history last year? And that I had to tutor you?" Gabriella asked. Gabriella was sure there must be some kind of mistake.

"Yes, Gabriella, I am aware, but since we're in the same class, maybe we could do homework together?" said Sharpay. Before Gabriella could register what she had said, Sharpay laughed. "Just kidding. The guidance counselor said that AP is a good way to get ready for college." Gabriella still didn't understand, but she accepted that Sharpay was in her class. The teacher stood up and began lecturing about "background materials" including knowledge everyone should already have, such as Christopher Columbus, and why the year 1776 was so important. Sharpay raised her hand. Gabriella looked at her, very surprised.

"Christopher Columbus is a great director, having directed Rent and Harry Potter, and 1776 is an excellent musical, that I myself have starred in, but I can't see why either are important in this class," Sharpay said.

The teacher frowned at her, and Gabriella sighed. This was going to be a long year. Ryan was in Geometry with Troy, and Sharpay was in APUSH, there was going to be a lot of tutoring among the seniors at East High, and there was only a few tutors to go around. The only relief that Gabriella got was that Taylor was there for her, as was Troy, and that neither Ryan, nor Sharpay were taking Calculus. When History class finally ended and the bell rang for lunch, Gabriella went to find her usual table with Troy, Chad, and Taylor.

When she arrived at the cafeteria, she saw that her friends were waiting for her in the lunch line. She was pleased to see that Sharpay was having her usual homemade lunch up on the second level of the café area with Ryan and Kelsi, as was the norm. When the four of them finally got their lunches and sat down with Zeke, Martha, and Jason, Gabriella began dishing about her awful morning, helped by Taylor, who had had the first two classes with her.

"And Sharpay is in my APUSH class, this year is a disaster," she finished.

"Cheer up, guys," said Kelsi, surprising most of them. "It's only the fist day of school, things are sure to get better. After all, who knows, Sharpay could end up failing history, and not being able to star in the theater productions." Everyone said hi to Kelsi, and Zeke and Jason moved apart to make a space for her. "So I've got all the music composed for your winter musical," she continued, but the bell got the best of her, and they all hurried to get to class.

A/N: Okay, so there's the first bit of my new story! It may seem a little vague, but I didn't want to post too much all at once. Thanks for reading this, and review it please! I'll be posting sooner (throughout the story) if I get more reviews!

And just to sort out any confusion, this is Post HSM2, if you couldn't deduce that. It's a little vague. This starts out Troyella and Chaylor, but then progresses to Ryella, Troypay, Chaylor, and Jelsi. It takes a while, though, because anyone who knows me knows I like my stories long. Oh, and for some reason, I wrote it in a way that if you hadn't seen much of the movies, you'd know what was going on.

About the "Chapter" notation, it's just a way to denote whose POV is going on. If it's confusing, I'll stop. I don't own HSM or anything else that I might have referenced. (I think there's a reference to Return to Halloweentown in there somewhere, which I don't own.)

Samantha.