At the Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own the song "At the Beginning" from Anastasia, or any characters in this story, um, yeah just don't take the plot!

Author's Note: Another quick one-shot, this time a song-fic and a Ryella! Yay for Ryella!

We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

Gabriella groaned and leaned against her locker. She watched Troy walk away, tears beginning to form. She quickly grabbed her books and went to homeroom, attempting to mask her pain for the long walk towards homeroom. She had almost made it when her bag fell off her shoulder. She bent down to pick it up and as she grabbed it, a warm, pale hand came down and enclosed on top of hers in an attempt to help. She quickly looked up and saw Ryan, wearing one of his trademark hats, and smiling warmly at her.

"Here you go!" he said as he handed it over to her.

Gabriella nodded in thanks, hands trembling has she took it back from him.

"Umm, do you want me to walk you to homeroom?" he asked nervously, wringing his hands together.

"Okay…" Gabriella said as she adjusted her bag across her shoulder and the two began walking the rest of the way to homeroom.

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start

As they entered the homeroom, Gabriella realized there was no way she could sit in her normal seat next to Troy, and found the only other empty seat, right next to Ryan.

She looked at him quickly and nervously asked, "Is it all right if I sit next to you today?"

"Sure," he said with a puzzled expression on his face. "but why aren't you sitting next to Troy?"

"Well, we, umm, we sort of…" she sighed deeply. "We broke up."

"Oh," Ryan replied, sympathy written all over his face as they sat down. "I'm sorry." However, inside his heart was leaping all over the place. 'She's single! I might actually have a chance with her now! I can comfort her and—but wait, that's taking advantage of her. I guess I'll just have to settle for friendship right now, no matter how much it kills me…'

"Ryan…Ryan… RYAN!" Gabriella practically yelled.

"What, huh?" he jumped, snapping out of his thoughts.

"The bell rang, it's time to go!" she said with a slight laugh. 'Wow, I'm already laughing? Why, Troy just broke up with me! Shouldn't I be sad? I can't be all happy inside. What is Ryan doing to me?'

And Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
A Wonderful journey

When they escaped from Darbus' room, the two split up as soon as possible, desperate not to spend time together, for fear of what might blossom. But during lunch, Gabriella once again faced the dilemma from earlier that morning. 'Where am I going to sit now?' she asked herself desperately.

Suddenly, she felt someone's hand on her arm, and turned to see Ryan leading her up the steps to the table that Sharpay and Kelsi were already sitting at.

"Thank you!" she whispered to him when they reached the table. "You really saved me…"

"Not a problem!" he smiled at her, sending shivers down her spine.

'Stop! You and Troy just broke up! You're completely depressed, and you're definitely not falling in love with Ryan!" Gabriella told herself, but she couldn't help but talk to him. His voice was so sweet and caring. It was truly music to her ears.

"So," Sharpay said. "Are you two, like going out?" she glanced at Gabriella, quickly and then smiled at Ryan.

"Umm, no." Ryan said shortly, and Gabriella could've sworn she saw a flicker of regret on his face, but when she looked again, it was gone and he was all smiles.

"Troy and I broke up this morning, and Ryan's been including me so I don't have to sit all alone, or worse, with Troy." Gabriella said smiling politely at Sharpay.

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

School ended and Gabriella began the 20 minute walk back to her house. She was thinking about Ryan, and what to do, when a pick up truck pulled up next to her. Her first instinct was to run, but when the window rolled down and Ryan's head popped out, her heart practically stopped.

"Want a ride?" he asked with a smirk.

'Darn that heart melting smile!' Gabriella thought as she climbed into the truck.

"Thanks." She said brightly, buckling herself while Ryan pulled back into the road.

"Where's your house?" he asked after about two minutes of comfortable silence.

"79 Sherman Oaks Drive." She replied.

Ryan took a left and looked over at her. "So," he began slowly, "are you feeling better about Troy?"

Gabriella was caught off her guard, but quickly recovered saying, "Actually yeah. Someone else has caught me eye. But I'm not sure if he likes me as more than a friend."

Ryan groaned inwardly, but tried to be helpful on the outside. "Well, you should just go after him. What's life without a few risks anyway?"

"You're right…" Gabriella said thoughtfully as they drove on towards her house.

I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
I know that my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

Ryan looked at her sadly and said, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, goodbye Ryan!" she said as she unbuckled her self. However, instead of leaving the car as Ryan had suspected, she leaned over and planted her lips on his.

Ryan opened his eyes in shock, but quickly returned the kiss, placing one hand lightly on her hips, and running the other through her hair.

When they broke apart, Gabriella quickly jumped out without a word.

As Ryan watched her enter the house, he whispered after her, "Goodbye…"

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there whenthe storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

Author's Note: Awful, great, loved it, hated it… Review pretty please!