Mrs Montez smiled as her seven year old daughter ran towards the sea, hand-in-hand with her new best friend. His name was Troy and in the fortnight that they had been in Spain, Gabriella had become completely besotted with this little boy – and he had taken to her too. They had spent every spare moment together.

She smiled as her daughters long brown hair, flew as she chased Troy, water splashing everywhere. She heard Troy call out in surprise as Gabriella took the bucket she used for sandcastles, filled it with water and dumped it over Troy's head. She heard Gabriella laughing as she ran away, but Troy caught up with her, pulled her down and kicked water over Gabriella. Mrs Montez was in complete bliss. Spain was definitely the best holiday that she had ever had – she was happy and more importantly, so was her daughter.

Nine Years Later…

Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Montez, took a long drink of her ice-cold lemonade and sank into a kitchen chair. She let out a deep sigh and wiped her damp forehead with her hand.

"Are you finished unpacking?" her mother asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Not yet." Gabriella admitted, her face flushed. "Nearly." She took another sip of her drink.

Mrs Montez nodded at her daughter. "Okay, honey."

She grabbed a box from the counter and went back into the living room.

Gabriella sighed again and rested her head in her hands for a few minutes.

'I could sleep for a million years…' she thought to herself, but summoning all her strength, she stood up and walked back upstairs to her room, grabbed an un-opened box and began to unpack.

Mrs Montez had been transferred to work in Albuquerque, and had to move house. Gabriella had taken the new okay, had seemed happy enough to start at a new school. She couldn't be more proud of her daughter's maturity at handling the situation.

Later that night, Gabriella flung herself on her newly-made bed.

"Finally!" she muttered. "I'm finished!"

She rolled over in her bed, falling straight asleep with all of her clothes on.

Mrs Montez walked in the room and smiled when she saw her daughter fast asleep on top of her bed. She walked over to Gabriella and removed her shoes, kissed her on the cheek and then switched off the purple lamp beside her bed. Then, she left the room.

Two days later, Gabriella walked up the steps and into her new school, East High.

'Woah.' She thought, looking round at the hundreds of students, the whiteness of the walls and lockers, the thousands of fliers posted everywhere, advertising clubs and events. She thought back to her old school where clubs hadn't been such a big deal and the walls certainly needed some new coats of paint. 'This is certainly… different.'

From her interview with the principal yesterday, she had in her hand the single most important piece of paper that she'd need today: her timetable and her locker number.

'But where is my locker?' she thought, staring at the numbers on the lockers in front of her. She kept walking when suddenly, she walked right into someone.

"Ohmygosh! I'm sorry!" Gabriella apologized.

A girl with long, blonde hair and a bright pink outfit turned around to face her.

"It's no problem." She smiled. "Are you new? I haven't seen you around before."

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah, my name is Gabriella."

"And I'm Sharpay." The girl stuck out a perfectly manicured hand for Gabriella to shake. Gabriella shook her hand.

"Can I help you with anything?" Sharpay asked, "You seem kind of lost."

"Yeah." Gabriella said gratefully. "Do you know where locker seven is?"

"I do." Sharpay replied cheerfully. "Come on."

She led Gabriella down a bunch of hallways until they eventually came to a locker, fully equipped with textbooks.

"Thanks so much!" Gabriella smiled, putting her bag in her locker. "And do you know where classroom 102 is?"

Sharpay laughed and pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. "That one."

Gabriella laughed too. "Thanks."

"No problem." Sharpay grinned. "I have to go meet my boyfriend, I'll catch you later!"

"Bye!" Gabriella waved as Sharpay walked away. She took some books out of her locker, along with her writing supplies. Suddenly, the bell rang, causing her to jump a little and drop a couple of pens. She picked them up and walked into the classroom. She was the first person in.

The bell rang, causing Troy Bolton to stop kissing Sharpay. He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist instead.

"Come on." He sighed. "Let's get to class."

Sharpay pulled away, smiling. "I can't, I don't have my books yet. I was helping out a new girl this morning." She began walking quickly away, heading for her locker. "I'll meet you in class!"

Troy nodded and made his way to his English class. There was only one person in the room, a petit girl with long brown hair, standing by the teacher's desk.

She turned around to face him and when their eyes met, it was like a bolt of electricity passing through them.

'Oh. My. God.' Gabriella thought, staring into the boys eyes. A chill passed through her body and she just knew that he felt it too. He opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by a short, rounded woman, squeezing past him.

"Mr Bolton! Would you kindly stop blocking the doorway and head back to your seat?" she paused looking at Gabriella. "And you would be?"

"My name is Gabriella Montez, I'm a new student." Gabriella said, the spell between herself and the mystery boy broken. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he moved into a seat at the back. She turned around to face the teacher but could feel his eyes on her.

"I'm Mrs Darbus." The teacher explained. "Welcome to my class Miss Montez. You can sit there, in front of Troy Bolton."

Gabriella nodded and made her way to her selected seat, just as the class began to fill with people, including Sharpay who smiled warmly at Gabriella and then took a seat next to Troy.

'Aw man,' Troy thought, his eyes still on Gabriella. 'Where have I seen her before?'