A/N: Hello! This is my first HSM fic and I hope that it gets to be a successful story. I haven't found a beta-reader but I have read this chapter enough times to be confident enough to publish it.

Disclaimer: The High School Musical franchise and the characters included in this story are not mine, except for characters that you do not recognize from the movies.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter One - "Survive and Thrive"

I freaked out. I, Gabriella Montez, am a bad friend. Bad. The news my best friend, Taylor McKessie, was not taken lightly by me. I freaked out and I know she is going to hate me. Hate me! One of my only few friends at East High, one of my best friends, is going, or already does hates me! Despite me being the new girl for more than a year at my school, I didn't have to be a freaky genius to know the rules of East High, I have already figured out how the student body would react to the news. Okay, maybe not the rules of the teachers, but by the students. It was canon that no popular people, specifically the jocks, cheerleaders and rich kids, otherwise known as East High's kings, queens, princes, and princesses, are to date unpopular kids, the peasants of the kingdom.

The nerds are the lowest of the low, and that includes Taylor and me. But that does not mean we are less important than the royalties of East High. We are like the insects of a jungle, without us, the system will just blow and without the system, everything will be in chaos. Therefore, to avoid chaos, we nerds must stay away from the popular crowd. We must survive this hell we call school in order for us to be successful in anyway.

I wasn't always in the unpopular side, I was that nice girl everyone wanted to be friends with at my old schools. But since moving to Albuquerque and transferring to East High in my eleventh year of high school, I have decided to keep my head low and focus on studying, not that my grade was bad... I just needed to keep it up. You know, being that obsessive straight A-student.

I stood up from my bed and walked over to my bedroom door as someone from the other side knocked, most likely my mom, unless it was a ghost. Oh God, no. I am not going to scare myself this fine Sunday evening.

Mom popped her head in before I could open the door, and said, "Hey, sweetie, I'm heading out to go grocery shopping, need anything or did you want to come?"

It took a second for me to reply as my thoughts were still lost with Taylor's news, "Uhh, I think I'll be fine here, mom. Could just please buy me some energy nut bars, and blueberries, and please don't forget my strawberries?"

Mom laughed as she remembered the incident in which she bought strawberries and left it on the mall's bench to have a rest. She came back for it after she realized what happened but by the time she reached that bench, the plastic bag containing the strawberries were already gone.

"Sweetie, never!" she said with a smile. "I've prepared some dinner if you want to start eating while I shop."

"Thanks, mom, but I can wait for you."

And with that, I was once again left alone to my own thoughts. I went back to my sweet, sweet, bed and rested my chin on my soft pillow, trying to do some light reading for Biology. However, after only catching words like "Eukaryota cells" and "mitochondria" and something about "cell membranes", I have decided that my brain was just not functioning properly this fine Sunday evening. I turned around my bed so my back was on the bed, and my nape was on the pillow instead of my chin. I closed my eyes to recollect my thoughts and reorganize my state. After around ten minutes of thinking, I have decided to call Taylor. And this is how the conversation went:

Taylor: Gabs, if you think you're going to convince me-

Me: Tay, stop. I called you to apologize. Unless... you want me to convince you to not date Chad, then I'm all for it.

Taylor: Gabs, AAAAAAAAH! I FREAKING LOVE YOU!

By that point I have placed my phone away from my sensitive ear.

Me: I love you, too, Tay. But I'm telling you, be careful.

T: I know Chad has not exactly been the nicest guy to you, but if you get to know him, he is actually really sweet.

Huh, Danforth, sweet? I don't see it. The guy's a complete, complete, idiot and he is so far from nice, along with his best buddy, Troy Bolton.

M: Yeah, yeah. I'm still not tolerating the idiot. I still have not forgotten the gum-incident.

Bolton and Danforth pulled a prank on Taylor and I on my second week of schools that included gum being stuck on our pants. Those were my favorite pair of white pants, by the way. At the end of the day, after covering our bottoms with our jackets, we had to put it in the freezer. I read somewhere that freezing clothes that had gums stuck in them helped to remove the awful things.

T: Oh yeah, that. But boys are boys and if they liked a girl they will be mean to them.

M: Yes, boys are boys but that doesn't excuse their unpleasant behavior towards other people. Besides, there is no chance that neither Danforth nor Bolton will like me. I doubt that they even know my name.

T: Gabs, I am pretty sure that they do. They're in our homeroom and a few classes and there are only a few students in each class so how could they not know your name?

I heard the garage door open so I quickly bid my friend a goodbye and good night.

M: Tay, I have to go, mom's here. If you need a shoulder to cry on when you start receiving death threats, I'm here. Bye and Good night.

T: Hahaha! Good night, Gabs.

Reviews are appreciated, thanks!

Hope all is well,

sjustine98