Chapter 1

"Mom, my stomach…" Gabriella groaned as she walked in between her mother and the principal, Principal Matsui.

"Is always nervous on first day at a new school. You'll do great. You always do, and I made my company promise that I can't be transferred again until you graduate," Maria Montez reassured her daughter.

"I reviewed your impressive transcripts. I expect your light will shine very brightly here at East High," Principal Matsui encouraged.

"I don't wanna be the school's freaky genius girl again," Gabriella said, her eyes wide as she scanned the school's hallways.

"Just be Gabriella," Maria advised, kissing Gabriella on the forehead.

"This way," Principal Matsui said, pointing to a flight of stairs.

Glancing back at her mother with terror-filled eyes, Gabriella hastily ran up the stairs and searched for her homeroom. She came across a door that had been flung open and she could hear the chatter of many students from outside of the classroom. She peeked into the room and observed it. There were students sitting on desks, looking at their friends' cell phones and strong-looking boys spinning basketballs on their fingers. Gabriella fell out of her trance and turned to the eccentrically dressed teacher who was sitting on what looked like a throne at the front of the classroom.

"Excuse me," Gabriella said shyly, holding out her folder for the woman to take.

"Wonderful! You're our new student…" the teacher said, opening Gabriella's file and searching for her name.

"Um, it's Gabriella," Gabriella informed her.

The teacher closed the file with a snap and smiled. Gabriella couldn't help but smile back.

"I'm Ms. Darbus. There's an empty seat at the back next to Jason, the boy who is sleeping."

"Thank you," Gabriella replied politely.

Gabriella made her way to the back of the classroom and sat in her chair. She analysed the room again, taking in some details that she hadn't noticed earlier. It seemed like all the students were split into groups of different activities and clothing styles. The kids who's faces were framed with glasses were eagerly discussing a thick textbook and speaking over each other to argue about who got question 7 right or wrong. A group of boys and girls gathered near the front of the classroom, taking turns to read something on a sheet of paper and moving their bodies to fit what they were reading. The girls with the chic hairstyles and slutty clothes were in another corner, fanning themselves with their hands as they swooned over the basketball boys. In the very centre of the classroom were the guys with the basketballs at hand. They sat in a circle on desks and chairs, talking about the next basketball season, who's party was next and some guy who was late again.

'Funny,' Gabriella thought. 'Where would I fit in? Probably the nerds.'

As soon as Ms. Darbus stood up, Gabriella noticed that everyone stopped what they were doing and went straight to their designated seats, as if they were scared of Ms. Darbus. She also noticed that they was one seat in the column to her left, at the front, that was left empty.

'Damn,' she thought. 'Why couldn't I have that seat?'

She shook her head, ridding her mind of that.

'No! Stop it! That's so teacher's pet-ish.'

The class grew to complete silence as Ms. Darbus began to speak.

"Good morning ladies and gentleman. Today, I will be discussing the dangers of cell phones, since I didn't get to finish my speech on it yesterday. It is a know fact that the radiation waves of cell phones travel through your skin and flesh, into your brain and from their, travels through your nerves into your heart and has a high chance of killing you. That is just one of the many dangers of…"

Gabriella's drooping eyelids suddenly flew open as the doorknob turned and was pushed open. Ms. Darbus' face turned to a frustrated one as she saw who had just walked into the room. But Gabriella had no idea. She was already mesmerised by how handsome this boy was. From where she was sitting, she could see his messy, just-out-of-bed, sandy brown hair that covered almost covered his ocean blue eyes. His style was rather casual which gave him a 'cool' look and boy did Gabriella admire that.

"Mr. Bolton. You're late," Ms. Darbus barked. "Don't tell me it was that father of yours again."

"No, it wasn't. My car broke down this morning so I had to push it back home," the boy explained, sitting down in the previously empty seat that Gabriella longed for.

"Another time and it's straight to detention for you," Ms. Darbus said strictly.

After that, the class fell silent again with the occasional noises of heads hitting the tables and fingers tapping on the tables. It was clear that the class were used to these types of boring and meaningless lectures. Anyway, no matter how much Ms. Darbus influenced her students to stop using their cell phones, how many would actually believe her? Pointless.

Ring!

The whole class swarmed out of the classroom like a flock of sheep getting gathered by a sheepdog. Gabriella, obviously, was not used to this and she was the last one to leave. Feeling small in this world of allocated cliques, Gabriella hugged her books to her chest as she squeezed through the tiny gaps between people to get to her next class. Mathematics.

Evidently, this class had no particular seating arrangement for if there was a seating arrangement, all the cheerleaders would not be seated together. It was a wonder how they were even in an advanced placement class. Maybe they seduced the aging and balding teacher to take them in his class.

Mr. Calk was his name and he was a bubbly and stout teacher who was very lenient with his discipline and examining. He would certainly give an 'A' to a cheerleader if they gave him a picture of them dressed like whores. He favoured all students and sucked up to them so they would give good reviews about him to Principal Matsui. Gabriella has already assumed that she wouldn't learn much for the second half of her Junior year.

Gabriella chose to sit near the back of the classroom, not wanting to seek attention from the eyes of her peers. Students would be unable to turn around and stare at her if Mr. Calk was 'teaching' at the front of the class. Gabriella felt a presence on her left and turned to see a pretty African-American girl, with a headband in her hair, sitting down.

'Hopefully this one is nice,' Gabriella thought. 'Maybe she won't even talk to me. That would be even better.'

Gabriella turned her head, slightly to the right to avoid look at the girl who was setting up her pencils in height order on the table in front of her. The girl proceeded to stack her books neatly and wipe old eraser debris off the table. When she was satisfied, she turned to Gabriella and smile.

"Hi," the girl greeted. "I'm Taylor McKessie, Scholastic Decathlon Captain and Science Club member. What's your name?"

That was probably too friendly for Gabriella's liking. Gabriella slowly turned around to face the overly-friendly girl who seemed to project a 'typical nerd aura.'

"Gabriella, Gabriella Montez."

Taylor stuck out her hand and smiled. "Nice to meet you and welcome to East High."

Gabriella hesitantly shook the girls hand and smiled bashfully.

"Oh, no need to be scared. I was just like you once. Last year, I joined East High and I was already a nerd because of how I looked. So let's take this journey together and see where it brings us, okay?" Taylor proposed.

"Okay," Gabriella answered unsurely.

"Anyway, Mr. Calk is always late to begin teaching, so that means I have time to tell you everything about East High," Taylor said quickly, as if she had a lot of content to get through. "Firstly, there are some things that are vital for your knowledge. There are many cliques at East High and some of the more popular ones are the Jocks, Cheerleaders, Nerds, Drama Geeks and Loners. Of course, the Jocks and Cheerleaders are the popular kids and they sort of bully us Nerds, Drama Geeks and Loners. It's inevitable, however, I'm sure you saw, in our homeroom, the guy who came in late. Yeah. That's Troy Bolton," Taylor said that with such fascination and mystery in her voice that you would think that Troy Bolton was some sort of spirit that everyone was scared to talk about.

"And he's special because?" Gabriella asked weirdly.

"Because he's like a mystery to everyone. He's one the basketball team, which means he's a jock, but he's also quite a loner. Nobody knows where he goes at lunchtimes. Nobody knows why he's always late for homeroom and nobody knows why he doesn't have friends. So obviously you've seen him and you would be foolish to say that he's not hot. I mean, all the cheerleaders try to hit on him but he just shoos them all away. Again, I say, nobody knows why. Therefore, I advise you not to talk to him because he will just flip you off and ask you to leave him alone. Anyway, he's actually in this class, surprisingly, but he's late… again," Taylor explained.

"So… you're just gonna talk about Troy? What about everyone else? Oh my god! Are you a secret cheerleader who has a crush on Troy?" Gabriella asked slyly.

"No! Of course not! Why would I? I don't have a reason to like him. Besides, I don't have time for crushes. Got tons of homework, you know?" Taylor replied, trying to hide her cheeks.

Gabriella smiled. For the first time, it was a real smile. She liked this girl.

"I can see your cheeks! You're blushing! You are!" she teased.

"No, I'm not!" Taylor defended, covering her warm cheeks.

"Fine. Deny it all you want. You have a crush on him and you know it," Gabriella said.

"No, seriously. I don't. There's another guy I like but I don't think he even knows who I am," Taylor explained.

"Basketball team?" Gabriella asked knowingly.

Taylor nodded and sighed. Gabriella reached over to pat Taylor's back.

"Don't worry. Someday. Someday, you'll find that he actually does know you," she reassured Taylor.

Suddenly, the door behind Gabriella opened again and she saw the magnificent figure of Troy Bolton walk into the classroom and sit in the closest seat to the door: the seat next to her. Gabriella glanced and Taylor and saw that Taylor was looking at her accusingly. Gabriella tried to communicate with her eyes that she didn't know what to do, but it was evident that Taylor had trouble understanding that. Gabriella saw Troy slouching lazily in his chair, out of the corner of her eye, and noted that he seemed like he was in a hurry to leave. On top of that, class hadn't even begun yet.

Gabriella was a smart girl. She had many talents; one of which was academics. She was skilled in English, Science and Math, but to keep up her skills, she had to work hard. Maria had never thought of paying a tutor to enhance Gabriella's academic skills because she was already too smart for her age, but sometimes, Gabriella wished that she had someone to help her with her homework. You see, Maria Montez was not native to America. She was born in Spain and her first language was Spanish. Not even her second language was English. It was actually Filipino. Maria was half Spanish and half Filipino, making Gabriella a quarter Filipino. Gabriella was very proud of her heritage.

Being in an advanced placement Math class meant that Gabriella would have to study even harder. Her previous school in California was not as academically focused as East High, therefore, not having such high level Math classes. It seemed like Gabriella was in for a long school year with long nights of study and not enough time for other things.

Along with being academically gifted, Gabriella had many other talents, some of which included singing, dancing, art and gym. One of Gabriella's favorite pasttimes was singing and she knew she was good at it. In fact, her old drama teacher had begged her to audition for the school's musical because of her voice. Gabriella had politely refused due to the bucket loads of homework she had to complete.

Gabriella also had a reserved space in her heart for dancing. Whenever she had free time, Gabriella would go to a dance studio and let out all her emotions by dancing. Whenever she did so, she could feel the music in her soul, forcing her to leap or jump of twirl. The sensation of being able to be free was a good feeling.

Another thing Gabriella had a soft spot for was art. She thoroughly enjoyed drawing, painting and even coloring on some occasions when she felt like it. Maria often marveled over Gabriella's artistic talent and hung numerous artworks by her daughter on the walls of their home. Visitors would also praise the artwork and one man even offered to pay $1,000 for one of Gabriella's paintings. Gabriella had laughed that off and thought it was a joke when her mother told her that story.

At her old school, Gabriella had always come out on top in gym. Gym and dancing had made her physically strong and she prided herself in those areas. The gym teacher back in Florida had always been impressed with Gabriella's athletic ability and even tried to persuade Gabriella to join the boys' track, football and basketball teams.

Now, at East High, Gabriella wasn't sure if she would have time for everything she wanted and planned to do. This school seemed more serious about academics so there was no way she would have time to do everything.

Gabriella listened to Mr. Calk as he went on and on about how to work out the value of pronumerals in algebra. That was so 7th grade. Finally, when the class was over, Gabriella stuffed her books in her bag, slung it over her shoulder and walked out the door with Taylor close behind her.

"Do you want me to show you the cafeteria?" Taylor asked kindly.

"Yeah, sure. What do they serve?" Gabriella asked.

"They serve a variety of foods of different cuisines. The food is actually quite good. Today, there's meat loaf and pudding. I haven't had the school's meat loaf before so I don't know if it tastes good or not," Taylor said, leading Gabriella to the lunch line.

Gabriella looked around the cafeteria and saw the different cliques at different tables, fully separated from other cliques and not willing to mix with any other types of people. After she got her food, Taylor showed Gabriella an empty table where they sat.

"As you can see, there's know Troy to be seen," Taylor said. "It's really quite a mystery."

Gabriella narrowed her eyes playfully. "You seem very intrigued by this Troy Bolton guy. Are you sure you're not stalking him or anything, because if you are, I won't judge."

Taylor also narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare go there again, missy. You know I don't like him, nor am I stalking him, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, even if you did like him, I wouldn't be worried," Gabriella shrugged.

"I'm worried," Taylor said quickly. "Gabriella, don't talk to Troy. Don't even try to talk to him. From what I've heard, he's dangerous."

"How so?" Gabriella questioned.

"Everyone knows that he murdered his family and he lives with his uncle, who is also the basketball team's coach and gym teacher. They say that he's wanted by the police and he's still on the run. He stays at school as short as he can so he has the least chances of being caught," Taylor said in a hushed whisper.

"And you believe that?" Gabriella asked in a disgusted tone.

Taylor held her hands up in surrender.

"I can't help it. If everyone else believes it, it must be true," she said illogically.

"Unbelievable," Gabriella muttered.

"Hey, I'm just informing you of the dangers of Troy Bolton," Taylor said. "If you get hurt by him, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Whatever," Gabriella said, looking around the cafeteria. "I would find a reason to go near him anyway."

"You'd better not," Taylor said, glaring around the cafeteria. "If a teacher decides to put you and Bolton in a group together for a project, that teacher will be seeing the fires of hell before they can even finish say 'Troy Bolton'."
"You're very stuck on that opinion, aren't you?" Gabriella asked.
"Yeah, well, isn't it obvious?" Taylor asked and both girl laughed. "So, how's the food?"
"Mhm," Gabriella moaned. "Absolutely amazing. I'm dumping my 9th husband."
"What?" Taylor asked confusedly.
"My husbands are my favorite food at the time. Whenever I have a new favorite food, it becomes my new husband. My 9th husband was butter on raisin bread. Now, it's this pudding," Gabriella explained. "Yeah, I know. It's quite strange."
"Very," Taylor agreed.
Ring!
"Oh, that's the bell!" Taylor exclaimed. "What do you have?"
Gabriella scanned her timetable and looked for her next period.
"Music," she replied.
"You're doing music? Interesting," Taylor said thoughtfully.
"Is there something wrong?" Gabriella asked.
"No," Taylor shrugged. "Just that Bolton's in that class."
Gabriella pretended to be really surprised. "You memorised his schedule?"
"No, one of my friends is in that class and she told me about him. Apparently, he doesn't do anything in that class so the teacher always picks on him," Taylor explained.
"Seems like him from what you told me. Anyway, I must be going," Gabriella said, waving to her new friend and following the crowd out of the cafeteria doors.

Gabriella sat in the music room, tapping her pencil on the table and observing the features and objects of the room. It was filled with many different instruments, but also with posters and CDs on the walls. It seemed like so much good work was done in the class.
Out of the corner of her eye, Gabriella spotted Troy walking into the classroom an sitting in the seat directly behind her. She gulped and tried her best not to look awkward or out of place. Troy, she noticed, would often look around the room in a sort of daydream state, instead of using his cell phone like all the other students did.
'Well, on the bright side, at least he isn't late,' Gabriella thought.
The teacher for this class was named Mr. Harnonie. He carried a kind and conscious aura wherever he went and Gabriella could sense that this class would be one of her favourites. Mr. Harmonies stood up from his desk and walked to the front of the classroom.
"Good afternoon, students," he greeted. "Now, today is a special day because we have a new student."
Gabriella shrunk down in her chair, in an attempt to disguise herself in the wood of the table.
"Miss. Gabriella Montez, would you like to come up and introduce yourself? Tell us where you moved from, your former school and why you chose music out of all the other subjects you could've chosen from," Mr. Harnonie said kindly.
Gabriella got up from her seat, hesitantly, and made her way to the front. "Okay..." she said slowly.
"Don't worry, I don't bite," Mr. Harnonie said.
Gabriella smiled at her teacher and nodded.
"So, my name is Gabriella Montez. I recently moved from Florida about 3 days ago and my former school was just a state school called 'State School of Orlando.' Why did I choose music? Well, that's easy. Simply because I love music. Whenever I hear music or even imagine it, I feel at peace and that's probably what draws me in the most. I also find that music allows you to express your emotions in a way that speaking and writing can't."
When she had finished, most of the class clapped as well as Mr. Harnonie.
"Very good. Thank you," he thanked. "I see you're very passionate. Well, I hope you enjoy this subject and consider it for next year."
"I will," Gabriella smiled, walking back to her seat and waiting for Mr. Harnonie to continue.
"After a delightful speech from Miss. Montez, I would like to introduce our next project which I'm sure will interest you very much. Your task is to create a CD of at least 7 songs. These songs can be instrumentals, singing with backing tracks, singing with your own instrumentals and anything else that incorporates music in it," Mr. Harnonie explained.
A girl with light brown hair and glasses raised her hand.
"Is this an individual project?" she asked softly.
"No, you will be working in pairs. Pairs that I will assign," Mr. Harnonie said. "Ah, here's my list. Adrian and Hannah will be working together, Gary and Fiona, Yokutu and Samarah, Jordan and Riley, Kyle and Sandra, Blake and Vivian," the list of names went on for a while until... "Troy and Gabriella."
Just as Gabriella was about to fall asleep, her eyes flew open and her whole body froze as realised who she would have to be associated with. Taylor had told her not to go near to him because he was dangerous. Of course, she didn't believe that he killed her parent, but she knew nothing. He could actually be a serial killer for all she knew. And poor Mr. Harnonie. He was such a nice man, but Taylor had promised to kill any teacher that made Gabriella and Troy work together on a project. However, Gabriella's shock could be mistaken for disgust or terror, but in fact, it wasn't. Gabriella didn't have any preference to which boy she was paired up with, but her friend had warned. But what was life without taking any risks?
"You may start discussing with your partners now," Mr. Harnonie said.
Gabriella spun around in her chair so she could face Troy, who had a really bored and day dreamy face on.
"Hi," she greeted friendlily.
Troy's eyes actually bothered to focus on her, but his mouth was too lazy to speak.
"So, what type of songs do you want to put on the CD? I don't know about you, but I like to sing. Ooh! Perhaps we can do a duet or two together! That'd be so cool!" Gabriella said excitedly. Her face fell when she saw he was joining in with her excitement. "What do you think?"
Troy shrugged and his face remained emotionless. He shook his head and sighed.
"You talk too much," he replied.
Gabriella's internal joy erupted inside her, feeling the accomplishment of getting Troy to speak to her.
"Well, if you won't talk, then who else will do the talk?" Gabriella asked.
"You," Troy answered lazily.
"So, anyway... why did you choose this subject if you're not gonna find it interesting?" Gabriella asked.
"Who said I don't find it interesting?" Troy asked.
"Oh, well, you just have this bored face on, you know? So, I just assumed..." Gabriella answered as a best as she could.
"You should never assume things, Kitten," Troy said.
"It's Gabriella, not Kitten," Gabriella corrected.
"I know... Kitten," Troy smirked.
"I'll keep calling you that."
"Okay," Gabriella said. "Do what you like. Fine. But, I'm really serious about this whole school thing and I want to do well in my studies, so, we'd better get started on this project. So, back to my first question, what type of songs do you want to put on the CD?"
"I don't know," Troy replied nonchalantly. "You choose."
"Alright then. I like songs from musicals. They're cool. But it's also fun to have instrumentals. I don't know either. You should also have a say in this," Gabriella said.
"Do you like rap songs?" Troy asked.
Gabriella cringed, wondering if her answer would offend him at all. "Uh..."
Before she could even start her sentence, Troy continued. "Okay, good. I don't like rap songs either."
"So are you a country kind of guy?" Gabriella asked.
"Yeah, sort of," Troy shrugged. "I like country and also pop. Songs from musicals are nice. I used to watch them with my mom..." Troy trailed off awkwardly.
Gabriella bit her lip, remembering what Taylor told her about Troy murdering his family. Gabriella looked up when she hear Troy sigh.
"Taylor told you right. Rumor's been going around for years," Troy said.
"How did you know?" Gabriella asked.
"It's inevitable."
"Did you just assume?" Gabriella asked.
"No, I just know what Taylor does when she's being her typical self. She tells the new students about how dangerous I am and how they should keep away from me because I killed people or something like that," Troy explained.
"Well, if it helps, I don't believe that you killed your family," Gabriella said with hope.
"What a lie!" Troy scoffed. "Maybe Taylor is right. Maybe you should believe her."
"What? No! Why should I believe that you did such a horrible thing when I don't even know anything about you?" Gabriella asked rhetorically.
"Yes, that's right. You don't know anything about me, therefore, news for you would e that I actually did kill my family," Troy said.
Gabriella's eyes popped out of their sockets. He did not just say that! Gabriella cleared her throat and laughed awkwardly.
"Did I hear you correctly? I swear you just said that you killed your parents."
"That's because that is what I said. I killed my family and I spend the shortest times at school so my chances of getting caught are lower than they should be," Troy said.

"Is that actually true?" Gabriella said quietly.

"I don't know, you tell me," Troy said.

Gabriella stayed silent.

"Come on. Let's do our project," she said.

HSM

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Mr. Harnonie put you and Troy Bolton in a group… together?" Taylor exclaimed.

"Yup," Gabriella replied.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Taylor cried.

"No, don't," Gabriella said. "It's an opportunity to see if Troy is really like how you described him."

"He is," Taylor said with a threatening look in her eyes. "You don't want to mess with him."

"He was nice to me," Gabriella shrugged. "So why should I worry?"

Taylor looked at her friend strangely, as if she was out of her mind. She cleared her throat.

"Okay, let me tell you a story," she said. When Gabriella didn't reply, she continued. "During the Summer before our Junior year, which is this year, Bolton's uncle forced him to go to this basketball camp. Bolton got so mad at his uncle for that and he punched him in the nose. Coach was in hospital for weeks.

"At the summer camp, Bolton was 'Mr. Hot Shot' there. All the girls swooned over him and lucky for them, there were parties that he attended. Bolton would hook up with them, promise to do it again, but then leave them miserable. He hooked up with about 10 girls that Summer and left them behind like they were just dolls."

Gabriella laughed a sarcastic laugh and crossed her arms.

"And who'd you hear that from?" she asked.

"My friend, Sharpay," Taylor smirked, also crossing her arms. "You see, this camp wasn't just a basketball camp. It was also a dance camp and Sharpay was there. She witnessed everything – the parties, the girls crying and everything else."

"Is she some sort of gossip queen then? Because I can't imagine Bolton doing something like that," Gabriella said.

"Look. It's nice of you to defend him and all, but do consider the bad sides of people as well," Taylor said.

Ring

"Oh no! I have to go now!" Gabriella cried.

"Where are you rushing off to?" Taylor asked.

"Somewhere..." Gabriella replied hastily. "Sorry, Taylor."

"No, it's alright. Go ahead."

Gabriella nodded at her new friend and ran out of the school, to the sidewalk. She began to walk faster as students started to file out of the school in packs. Eager to not get caught in the crowd, she took of in a run so she could get to where she was going. Want to know were she was going? Well, let's take look at some Montez history.

Juan Montez, otherwise known as Gabriella's grandfather, was the father of Gabriella's father. Juan and his wife, Isabella were very close to Gabriella, but an unfortunate car crash occurred and Gabriella lost 1 set of grandparents.

Maria Montez's parents had mysteriously disappeared when Maria was just 10 years old, leaving her with her auntie. Therefore, Gabriella's grandparents were left unknown to her.
When Gabriella was 13, Carlos was diagnosed with lung cancer, which was questionable as Carlos had never smoked before. 6 months later, Gabriella laid Carlos' favourite species of flowers on the top of his coffin.

This event left Maria a widow and Gabriella a child without a father. Gabriella admired her mother for dealing with all these problems and still succeeding in her work and motherhood. Since they were a small family, both Maria and Gabriella were very close and shared almost everything - objects, problems, worries and secrets.

Since the family only got money from one person, Gabriella was forced to work as well. She worked 3 jobs - a waitress, a cashier and a child care helper. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Gabriella went to the restaurant, dressed up in her apron and put on her friendly face. On Tuesdays and Thursday, she drove to Walmart with her named badge pinned onto her shirt and got ready for another day of memorising where everything was. And on Saturdays and Sundays, Gabriella went to the child care centre and played with the toddlers and young children there.

So, Gabriella's daily life was to go to school and then go straight to work and on weekends, she would work from 8 am to 3 pm. Sometimes, the restaurant would ask her to come before school to serve breakfast and she did so reluctantly, but knowing she had to and it was for the best.

Today was Monday which meant that Gabriella was working at the restaurant. To Gabriella, the restaurant was more of a cafe because they sold more desserts than the served main meals. It was like a quick drop off after school before activities.

When she went inside the cafe, she put on her apron and watched the door as a few people came in. She walked to the door and invited the people to sit down.

"Here's your table and your table number. Would you like anything to drink?" she asked kindly.

"Oh, not yet," the old lady replied. "Let me just have a look at the menu first."

"Okay, I'll come when you're ready to order," Gabriella smiled.

As Gabriella walked back behind the counter, she didn't notice a certain someone entering into the restaurant, but she did hear the ring of the doorbell. She turned around and she almost screamed when she saw a guy she knew. Talk about awkward conversations.

Troy Bolton had decided that he want an afternoon snack after school. He wore his dark shades that covered his beauty of eyes, much to many girls' dismay. It just so happened that Christy's Cafe was along the way to his house.

As he stepped into the cafe, he noticed a familiar mass of curls and a familiar outfit facing backwards towards him. Wondering who it was, his wish was granted when the girl turned around. Both of their eyes widened as they saw each other, but Troy's went unnoticed because of his shades. Gabriella wordlessly showed Troy his table by the window and gave him his number.

She gulped. "Um... would you like anything to drink?" she asked awkwardly.

Troy took off his shades and looked at her blankly. "Are you always this awkward around customers?"

"Uh... no?" she replied, more like a question.

The doorbell rung again and Gabriella looked over her shoulder to see another old couple hobbling in.

"Alright, I'd better go help those people. I'll be back," she said.

"Have fun, Kitten," Troy smirked.

"Gabriella," Gabriella called back, correcting him.

After settling the couple at the nearest table to the door, Gabriella went back to Troy to see if he was ready to order yet.

"Can I have coffee?" Troy asked.

"How about a 'please'," Gabriella muttered as she wrote it down.

"People don't use manners with me so why should I with them?" Troy shrugged.

"Would you like anything else?" Gabriella asked.

"More coffee," Troy replied.

"What about sleep?" Gabriella questioned.

"Kitten, I don't have time for sleep," Troy said, rolling his eyes. "I've got basketball 24/7."

"Then why aren't you at basketball now?" Gabriella asked.

"I can't be bothered to go," Troy said with no emotion in his voice. "So, when are you going to finally bring my coffee? Your job is to bring food and drinks to people, not to socialise."

Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"I'm trying to make a good first impression," she explained.

"Well, it's not really working, is it?" Troy said.

Gabriella huffed and crossed her arms.

"I'll bring you coffee, but only if you promise to go to basketball straight after. If you don't I'll just kick your lazy ass out of this café," she said.

"I don't make promises, Kitten," Troy said. "They never last."

"And who told you that?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"Myself," Troy replied bluntly. "Can you bring my coffee now? I'll complain to that waitress over there that you're not doing your job properly."

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Gabriella said. "No need to be so pushy."

"Oh, there is a need," Troy replied loudly.

Gabriella spun on her heel and went straight to the counter, starting up on Troy's coffee straight away. Most people would seem boring for ordering just a normal coffee, but Troy wasn't. Now Gabriella could actually see why everyone thought he was such a mystery. He was smart and witty, not to mention hot, but also lazy. Why wouldn't he just go to basketball practice like every other boy on the team did?

When she had finished, Gabriella brought the coffee back to Troy, who had put on his shades again like he was about to go outside again. She placed the cup on the table and watched him as he began to drink it. Troy stopped drinking for a while and looked up.

"Are you done being creepy yet?" he asked her.

"What?" Gabriella asked.

"You're like… looking over my shoulder and staring at me while I drink coffee. Is it possible for me to have some peace without feeling utterly disturbed by a girl who stares at people while they drink coffee?" Troy asked.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, you could start by going to that couple and taking their order," Troy suggested.

Gabriella turned around and saw a man raising his hand and waiting for the waitresses to pay attention and attend to him.

"Oh, right," Gabriella said, going over to the couple and taking their order.

Troy looked up from his drinking and stared at Gabriella as she took their order. No one would be able to see that anyway because of his shades. He had to admit that she was pretty, but he had enough discipline in his life and she wasn't his mother. When Troy had finished, he stood up and noticed that Gabriella was coming straight towards him.

"Are you leaving now?" she asked.

"Yes. You have a problem with that?" Troy asked.

"I was wondering if… if you could give me a ride home," Gabriella stuttered, her eyes full of hope.

Troy narrowed his eyes and stared at Gabriella's eyes.

"Okay," he finally said. "But only this once."

"Thank you!" Gabriella exclaimed, letting out a breath of relief. "I thought you weren't going to say yes!"

"I wasn't going to," Troy said, starting to head towards the door. "It's just because it's you."

"What's so special about me?" Gabriella asked, catching up to Troy after hanging up her apron.

"Nothing much," Troy replied.

"Because you're so great?" Gabriella scoffed. "That's just your egoistical brain tell you that."

Gabriella scanned the parking lot, looking for any signs of cars. There were none.

"Where the hell did you park?" she asked.

"There," Troy said, pointing to a motorcycle that stood relatively close to the exit of the carpark.

"You have a motorcycle?" Gabriella asked like a child, already so excited.

"Uh… yeah?" Troy said, unsure of the girl's excitement.

"That's so cool!" Gabriella said, running ahead. "I've always wanted a motorcycle!" she called. "But I never got one. I've only ever gone on one once… with my dad… when I was 7…" she trailed off. "Anyway, it's so shiny! Ohh, are you one of those guys who cleans their cars and motorcycles every week?"

"No," Troy replied. "I just keep it clean."

"I'm actually so excited!" Gabriella exclaimed. "It's been 9 years! That's too long!"

Troy chuckled at her excitement and took the helmet that hung from the handles. He threw it to Gabriella and she caught it.

"Here. Put it on," he said.

"What about you?" Gabriella asked. "I mean, it's so nice of you to value my safety, but really? Is that necessary?"

"No," Troy said, shaking his head. "What would your parents say if we rocked up at your house on the motorcycle and you weren't wearing a helmet?"

"Oh," was all Gabriella said.

Troy got onto the motorcycle and motioned for Gabriella to climb on after. When she was seated comfortable, she wrapped her arms around Troy's waist and held on tight, ready for the ride of her life. Troy wasn't going to lie – he felt extremely comfortable.

"Hold on," Troy said as he started up the engine.

Gabriella squealed when the motorcycle started moving and Troy grinned at her childishness. The rush of wind blew through Gabriella's hair as they drove through the traffic, in between the lanes of cars. To Gabriella, it was so cool to be outside, on the roads, without the cage of a car around her. As soon as they got to her house, Troy helped Gabriella get off the motorcycle and she took the helmet off.

"Thanks, Troy," Gabriella said, smiling. "I owe you."

"Yeah, you do," Troy replied. "You can do the project."

"Oh my god! I forgot all about that! What are we gonna do?" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Calm down, Kitten. We have a whole term to do it, or rather, you have a whole term to do it," Troy said.

Gabriella scowled.

"We have a whole term to do it. I'm not doing it by myself. Plus, Mr. Harnonie would know if you didn't do anything," she reasoned. "Do you do any form of music?"

"Well," Troy said slowly. "There's some things I used to do, but I doubt I can do them anymore."

"Can't you just relearn?" Gabriella asked. "What did you play?"

"Piano, Guitar…" Troy replied. "Can't do those anymore."

Gabriella's eyes lit up as she had an idea.

"You know what? We should totally do an acoustic duet together! You can play guitar and I can sing or we can both sing!" she suggested.

Troy laughed sarcastically. "Oh, yeah. I can totally sing. No, really. I can't sing or do any of those musical things."

"Why'd you stop anyway?" Gabriella asked.

"Basketball," Troy half-lied.

"So… you don't have time for anything else other than school and basketball?" Gabriella asked slowly.

"You know what?" Troy said, exasperated. "I've had enough of all these questions. We're at your house already."

Gabriella was taken aback by his outburst and stepped backwards, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Okay, jeez," she said. "No need to get snappy with me."

Troy got on his motorcycle and sighed.

"Just go," he said.

He put his helmet on and watched Gabriella walk to the front door of her house and disappear into it. He sighed again and started the engine, preparing himself for the journey home. When he arrived, he parked his motorcycle in the driveway and took the helmet inside, placing it on the table.

"Troy!" Coach Bolton, Troy's uncle barked. "Where have you been? And what did I say about putting the helmet on the table?"

Troy rolled his eyes and picked up the helmet.

"There. Happy?" he asked. When his uncle continued to narrow his eyes at him, Troy continued. "I was hungry, so I went to a café."

"And that caused you to miss practice?" Coach Bolton questioned disapprovingly.

Troy stayed silent, waiting for the lecture to come.

"BOLTON!" his uncle screamed. "YOU UNGRATEFUL IMBECILE! I TOOK YOU UNDER MY WING WHEN YOUR PARENTS DIED AND THIS IS HOW YOU ACT? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! I COULD VERY MUCH GROUND YOU FOR MONTHS, BUT I'M GOING TO BE THE NICE FATHER YOU NEVER HAD AND LET YOU HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE! YOU HEAR ME?"

Troy released his fingers from his ears and nodded.

"I did have a father. Until you killed him," Troy muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Coach Bolton yelled. "SPEAK UP, BOY!"

"Nothing," Troy replied. "I'll just go."

"Good idea, boy," Jack Bolton said. "For once."

Troy tucked his helmet under his arm and walked up stairs, flopping onto his bed.

He couldn't wait until he was eighteen.

HSM

"Gabby!" Maria Montez said. "You're home early!"

"I got a ride," Gabriella explained.

"From who?" Maria asked. "Genevieve?"

"No," Gabriella said, shaking her head. "This guy from school, who also happens to be my music project partner, decided to show up to the café. He took me home… on a motorcycle. It was so cool."

"Gabby… be careful with those types of boys. I'm not usually stereotypical, but a lot of boys with motorcycles are bad. They might seem nice when you first meet them, but you never know what's underneath," Maria lectured.

"Mom," Gabriella said. "Troy's the complete opposite. He's not mean to me or anything, he's just really closed up. There are rumours that he killed his family and the whole school believes it, but I don't. I can't imagine how horrible it would feel if the whole school is stared at you as you walked down the hallway, just because of a stupid rumour."

"What if it's not a rumour?" Maria reasoned. "For all you know, it could be true."

"Mom…" Gabriella said, desperately. "Troy isn't like that. I know he isn't!"

"And how do you know?" Maria asked.

"I don't know! I just do! He's got good vibes," Gabriella said. "Plus, he's already brought back good memories by letting me ride on the motorcycle."

"Just be careful, Gabby," Maria said caringly. "I don't want you to get hurt."