She crept into the room, padding on her soft white paws, ready to begin her daily morning ritual. Taking a quick look around the tidy room, her own little kingdom, she leapt onto the bed and nudged at the crumpled form beneath the blankets.

"That you Bell?" mumbled a quiet voice. The one-year-old cat pounced on the lump of blanket in response.

"Stop jumping already, I'm getting up," a sleepy fourteen-year-old's face framed by wavy raven hair revealed itself as the girl lifted up the blankets and reached a hand to stroke her purring best friend.

It was the second week of January and her first day as a freshman at Albuquerque's East High; exactly seven days after the most magical New Year's Eve Gabriella had ever had, spent in a cozy ski lodge in Michigan. It was ten days since her father had abruptly got married without telling his daughter despite her being with him until a week prior to the wedding. Three weeks had passed since she had left her childhood friends and her hometown and braced herself for what would be the most influential change in her life.

Gabriella got out of bed and walked over to her closet, picking out a pair of jeans, a navy blue shirt and an Aeropostale sweatshirt to form a casual outfit to wear. Satisfied, she quickly brushed her hair and went downstairs for breakfast while the ever faithful British shorthair cat followed her every step. Eating the fresh bread her mother had prepared, she wondered how her first day would go. This was the first time she was transferring schools, excluding the transition from Primary to Secondary. She was scared, nervous and thrilled to start a new chapter all at once. At least living with her mother would be heaven compared to living with her father who was gone two thirds of the time.

The cool wind blew across Gabriella's face as she walked to the designated bus stop for the bus she needed to catch, bus 28. Seeing the rising sun, Gabriella decided that that was what she had to do with this chance of a new life: rise up.

Do what you think is best and whatever will be will be. She smiled to herself; that had been the best self-advice ever.

---------------

Hastily drinking down his glass of milk, the teenager stuffed his feet into his worn down sneakers, hefted up his bag and rushed out the door yelling "Bye Ma!" over his shoulder at the last second.

Chuckling at her son's eagerness to start his second semester in high school, Lucy Bolton shouted back "Have a great day at school Troy!"

Troy rolled his eyes but his face lit up when he spied the approaching yellow vehicle. His mind was already going through exactly what he was going to tell Chad and the rest of his friends when he arrived at East High. Then the memory of a week ago struck and for a minute he was oblivious to the bus drawing closer. For a second his vibrant blue eyes softened. For a moment a gentle smile graced his appearance. He would definitely be telling Chad about the fantastical New Year's Eve he had experienced.

The sound of an engine slowing down caused Troy to shake himself out of his reverie and with a grin he stepped onto the bus and sat down on the green double seat, carelessly dumping his backpack beside him. He had always been an exceptionally optimistic boy and today was no exception. With his earphones in and a bright expression, he relaxed, anticipating a peaceful but fun-filled semester. After all, what were the chances that he would ever see his dream girl again?

Boy, should he have known to never underestimate fate.

---------------

Gabriella's eyes widened as she took in the multitudes of students milling in front of the smart and traditional building. There seemed to be—and probably was—over a thousand students at various places in the school and she was immediately able to pick out the cliques. Academics were sitting by the wall, thespians and musicians on the grass, skaters at the stairs, jocks around the central fountain and their following of girls hovering around them. However, with a more observant eye, Gabriella realized that it was not all black and white. A cheerleader could be seen chatting with a flutist; a skater was catching up with a scholastic girl. This was going to be interesting.

"Hey, I don't think I've ever seen you around before." Gabriella turned to face an African-American girl who had fallen in step with her. She had a short black bob, was dressed smartly and obviously walked with purpose.

"No, this is my first day here," Gabriella replied in her small shy voice.

"That would explain it. I pride myself in knowing something of everybody in the school, well, the freshman class at least, you're a freshman right?" The girl asked curiously before continuing. "Anyway, I'm Taylor, Taylor McKessie."

Amused, Gabriella smiled. "Yeah, I'm a freshman. Gabriella, Gabriella Montez."

"Awesome, I'll be looking for you. Gotta run now, Kels is waiting. Good luck on your first day, I promise you'll love East High. See you!" Taylor rushed off towards the side door, leaving Gabriella to continue her way to the main entrance while contemplating the possible budding friendship with the energetic girl. It wasn't long before she heard another voice beside her, a male one this time.

"What's up?" The boy had dirty blonde hair and a friendly exposition. Dressed in a relaxed but smart sweatshirt and dark jeans, he struck Gabriella as a confident guy. His eyes twinkled off growing maturity and intelligence.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow at him. "Do people here always try to talk to random people they don't know?"

He turned to her, smirking. "Why not? Besides, I'm always in favor of meeting new people, especially the cute girls."

Her face turning slightly pink, Gabriella took in his laughing expression and decided he was probably just joking.

"Right, and who are you?" She asked inquisitively.

"Matthew Morrison, they call me Matt. And you?"

"Gabriella." Her chary self thought it prudent to not say her full name.

"So Gabs," Gabriella shook her head at the new nickname, she already had too many to count, "why don't I go with you to the office, I'm assuming that's where you're headed." Matt grinned widely, "I'll be your welcoming guide."

"Nothing better to do?" She was incredulous, who would want to tag along a new student who was probably younger than them?

"Nope." He replied, smirking.

"Hmph." Gabriella found herself torn between wanting to escape Matt and wanting to learn more about him. She was quite curious as he looked to be a jock type while she considered herself a book worm and despite the mingling of cliques, she could not quite believe that the status quo could be broken that drastically. After a brief moment of consideration she resigned. "So you've always lived in Albuquerque?"

---------------

Bus 14 rolled into the high school premises at approximately 7:10 and a minute later the door opened and students flowed out, calling out to their friends as they rushed to share their holiday experiences. It was another minute before a brown-haired blue-eyed basketball player came down to be engulfed by best-friend-since-forever Chad.

"Yo Hoops, varsity tryouts are in two weeks! Aren't you hyped?" His afro bounced as he jumped up and down excitedly.

Troy's eyes shined as he laughed, happy to be back in the company of his crazy friend. "I thought you would have gone to find Taylor before pestering me about basketball."

"Oh, she's off finding the music girl, Kelsi, I think her name was, and basketball is the game, why wouldn't I talk about it?"

"I don't know, because you started going out with Taylor right before break and usually girlfriends are considered more important than a sport?" Troy teased.

"Whatever. How was your break anyway? You didn't return my calls or texts after New Year's," he ended with a sad tilt to his voice and a pout.

"Oh quit whining, I'll tell you when we get to my locker, I really don't want to be late for homeroom on the first day back. Ms. Darbus doesn't think too badly of me yet and I plan to keep it that way," Chad huffed as the two boys expertly weaved their way through the mass of people into the building towards the red and white line of lockers.

They had almost reached their lockers when Troy noticed familiar dark hair in the doorway of the guidance office. That couldn't have been her could it? There's like a million high schools in the country… but what if it was? He didn't realize he was still looking over his shoulder at the door until Chad spoke up.

"Dude, what are you looking at? The guidance office is the same old, same old." His voice showed his puzzlement.

Troy quickly turned back to his friend. "Nothing, got caught in the spirit of the new semester I guess."

Chad shrugged it off, knowing how weirdly into school his best friend was but Troy was not thinking about classes. I know this is wishful thinking but I can't help but feel like that was Gabriella, I sure hope it was. It was that hope that shined in his eyes as they opened their lockers and began the day.

A/N It's my 15th birthday and that means my first fanfiction publishing starts! I'm so excited. I have to thank my beta, Stace (LongHardRoadOuttaHell) and all my supporting friends inside and outside the world of hsm fanfiction. I hope you liked this first chapter even though it was quite short. The next ones will be longer and I'll work out a schedule for updating. Thanks for reading!