A/N: So, this is a new story and I am still currently writing it. I tend to have a habbit of getting bored and not finishing the story but I am going to do everything in my will power to finish the story! It's like my goal! Some of the things I mentioned are made up for example going to University in America but I don't really know so lets just go with it. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammar, I just hope you can make it out.

Think of this story like a clash between Neighbours and High School Musical...except there's no angry neighbours XD I meant in Zac's Character sorta way. Anyways, on with the story...

Sense of Belonging

Chapter 1- Party In The USA

Gabriella P.O.V
I stepped outside of the airport pulling my large black suitcase behind me. I looked up at the darkening sky and closed my eyes breathing in the warm air. A smile grew on my face. Home. I am finally home. I missed this place so much! There are so many memories

HONK!HONK!

The sound of a car beeping drew me away from my thoughts. I looked up and my eyes followed the sound and I was soon met with a bright pink car. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, I was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

When she pulled away, I finally got a good look at her. She had blonde hair that flowed halfway down her back. Her big brown eyes went well with her long eyelashes. I scanned her over. She was in good shape but that wasn't the thing that caught my attention. It was her outfit. She was wearing a cute white leather mini skirt with a light pink short sleeve crop top. To finish her outfit off, she had white strap heels. I look at her in confusion.

"Wow Sharpay, you really like to dress up," I giggle. She rolls her eyes at me and pulls me into another hug.

"Aw Ella I missed you so much!" She squeaks and I smile. She pulls me to her car and puts my suitcase in the back.

I sit in the passenger seat and look around as Sharpay speeds off down the road. Wow, Ryan was not kidding when he said Sharpay was like a real life barbie doll.

"We have so much to catch up on!" Sharpay tells me. I nod my head with a huge smile stuck on my face.
It's good to be home.

You're probably wondering what is going on right now and you probably have a lot of questions.
Well, my name is Gabriella Marie Montez and this whole crazy roller coaster ride started around 9 years ago. There was a girl in my school. Her name was Raven Herandez. She was the same age as me (so 10 years old). She was tricked into taking drugs or something like that and she wasn't really focusing on where she was going and she walked out onto the road and well, she got hit by a car and she sadly passed away. Being that the town we live in is rather small everyone was effected deeply by the accident. Anyway, when my mom found out about that, well, let's just say she went into panic mode and became way too protective.

So, she sent me to a boarding school in England in fear that the same thing could happen to me. Which I thought was a little unfair because my older brother Tyler. He's 20 now (only a year older than me) , well he didn't have to go. I always asked mom why but she said it's because he's a guy and he knows how to handle himself or whatever. Kinda sexist but anyway, moving on.

I was a little annoyed with my mom for a good year or two. She sent her only daughter away without a second thought because she thought she was protecting me but being without her love and protection up close sorta done the opposite. Thankfully, I am quite a wise person and I knew what was morally right and what was not. I eventually forgave my mom as I knew she had my best interest at heart. It's not exactly the route I would take with my own future children, but hey, we all deal with fear in our own ways.

I'm not sure what my mom thought England was like, but during the weekends we did get to do what we wanted and so I partied (yeahh, dunno if that's true lol). Could you blame me? I was a growing teen exploring the world with no family or any guidance to tell me right from wrong. England parties are not just a tea party and all that crap. It's pretty crazy. But I was careful to not get my drink spike or any of that shit.

Anyway, since I have finally turned 19 and I have finished all of my studies and just sorted some things out, I have finally come back. I can still remember my way home from different pl-

Wait, this isn't the way home.

"Pay, where are we going?" I ask her generally confused. I turn to face her and notice an distinctive grin on her face. We soon enter the gates of a very familiar mansion and park the car. I definitely recognise this mansion as The Evan's Mansion.

"Sharpayyyyy?" I ask dragging out the ending a bit. She parks her car and turns to face me.

"We, my darling, are going to a FRAT PARTY," Sharpay squealed. My brows furrow together as Sharpay sits there all giddy in her seat.

"Pay, I just got home so I kind of wanted to, oh I don't know, see my mom and brother. And even if I wanted to, my mom would never let me!" I explain as we continue to sit in Sharpay's bright car debating about this. I mean what was she thinking, I got sent away for a reason. Did she really think I could just go out to some party?

"Oh come on! You're going to have so much time to catch up with your mom and Tyler and besides it was sort of your mom's idea for me to take you out and have fun. She thought it would be a great way for you to spend your first night back," Sharpay explained. I snorted. Yeah right.

"That sounds nothing like my mom. Remember, she was the one who sent me away in the first place to not get mixed up with parties and all that," I reminded her. Sharpay shook her head and did a slight eye roll.

"Elle, every parent back then went into the over protective mode after finding out what had happened. It's just your mom took this protectiveness to some really drastic measures. But with some longgggg discussions, Tyler, Taylor and I managed to ease her out of that crazy mode and into a chill mother mode. But you still had to finish your studies in England so you couldn't come back just yet. Which was a shame. Because we all missed you lots!" Sharpay rambled on. I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head.

"And your point it?..." I continued.

"My point is, Missy, that after a year or two when parents began to learn to trust not only their kids but other people as well, did the whole town slowly, and I mean very slowly, get out of the over protective mode," Sharpay explained.

I stared at Sharpay for a moment going over all the options in my head.

"Andddd, you will still get to see your brother," Sharpay added. My eyebrows furrowed together again in confusion.

"You're brother is part of the brotherhood of the frat house or whatever it is called," Sharpay explained. My eyebrows rose up high as a shocked expression took over my face.

"No Wayyy!" I half asked half stated. Sharpay nodded her head. I pouted. How was that fair? Gee what did they put in my mom's drink to get her to agree to this?

"No fair, I get sent away for the risk of getting caught up in shit like this but Tyler actually gets to be part of the brotherhood. Sexist. Very Sexist!" I whined. Sharpay just giggled. A grin matching Sharpay's one broke out onto my face as I nodded my head.

"Okay then! Let's do this!" I cheered. Sharpay smiled and clapped her hands.

"Great! Let's go inside, get ready and then head over there!" Sharpay squealed. I simply giggled and rolled my eyes at my overly excited best friend.
-

Gabriella stood outside the Cappa house and saw that the party was already in full swing. There already drunk people snogging on the front lawn, empty beer cans scatted everywhere, a spare tire on the front lawn, and well, basically random shit everywhere.

Gabriella looked down at her outfit. She nodded in approval. Finally after searching Sharpay's walk in wardrobe like 10 times, she found some clothes more her style buried way back deep underneath all her other pink sparkly clothes.

She settled for a maroon coloured crop top which was quite low cut but had laces threading in and out in between her 'V' cut. She wore a black leather pencil skirt which she pulled up to look high waisted. This also meant that is rested a little higher than half way down her thighs. She finished her look with black leather converses to give the look a more casual vibe and she also let Sharpay gave her a little make over. Gabriella was reluctant at first but it was kinda their deal seeing as Sharpay still disapproved of Gabriella's outfit as it had no pink on it or no sparkles. So, she had a small winged eyeliner, mascara and her lips were slightly tinted a dark red.

Sharpay walked up to her Latina friend wearing a pink skirt with a white sparkly shirt which tucked into the skirt and that was matched with pink strappy heels. Why she had to change her outfit, I dunno. Sharpay wore a huge grin and linked arms with Gabriella and dragged her into the party.

They squeezed past all the drunk people dancing and managed to make their way to the bar.
Sharpay grabbed two beers and shoved one into Gabriella's hands. She gulped down nearly half of it. She forgot to hydrate when she was at Sharpay's and she was feeling a little dry.

Suddenly a dark skinned girl squealed as she wrapped her arms around Gabriella. Gabriella looked pretty stunned at first not knowing who it was. When the girl pulled away, Gabriella's eyes grew wide and she pulled the girl back into another hug.

"Taylor! Oh my god! It's been forever!" Gabriella squealed. Taylor nodded.

"I have missed you so much! We have so much to catch up on!" Taylor replied, she suddenly smirked.

"But right now, let's hit the dance floor! I love this song!" Taylor added and before they could say anything, Taylor had pulled both Gabriella and Sharpay to the dance floor and began to sway their body with to the song Cheap Thrills by Sia. Sharpay and Gabriella both happily joined her dancing on and on to the different songs after.

After a while, Gabriella felt the need for another drink. She gestured towards the bar so Taylor and Sharpay knew where she would be at. They nodded at her and continued to dance.

Gabriella grabbed a drink from the pyramid of cups and gulped it down.

"How come I have never seen you round here before?" A low husky voice asked. Gabriella turned to see a guy leaned against the bar next to her staring at her. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle more than a diamond with thick shaggy sandy brown hair. He wore a black polo which hugged his perfectly toned body and dark blue trousers which he matched with black vans. He was in pretty good shape and looked FIT!

"Maybe you've just been too busy to notice," Gabriella replied with a small smirk. He smirked and chuckled.

"Not possible, I defiantly would have noticed you," The guy responded as his eyes roamed over her chest, flat stomach and right down to her tanned (Because of her skin colour in general) toned legs.

Gabriella smirked and opened her mouth to say something but a commotion in the garden grabbed both their attention. The hot guy before her furrowed his brows in confusion before he made his way through the sliding doors and into the garden. Curiosity got the best of Gabriella so she chose to follow him.

There was a small group of people circling around two other people. They were chanting 'fight' and other things. Gabriella squeezed her way through the crowd until she was at the front.

There were two boys throwing punches at each other, rolling around on the floor with one being on top before getting knocked back to the floor by the other and so on and so on. One of them had pure black hair with killer grey eyes. He was in some good shape but nothing compared to the guy she was talking to earlier. The other guy had tanned skin, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. In fact, he actually looked a lot like- wait a minute. TYLER?!

"TYLER!" She yelled trying to be heard over the top of all the shouting and the music in the distance.

Tyler was on top of the other boy throwing a few punches when his killer brown eyes snapped up to look at the owner of that voice. He recognised that voice but it was like he hadn't heard it in so long. His eyes locked with hers and they immediately began to soften when he recognised that, that particular voice belonged to his sister who he hadn't seen in a quite a while. He opened his mouth to reply when he felt a hard blow to the chest. He was knocked off of the other guy and scrambled to his feet before they both charged back at each other.

Troy was watching curiously to the side. Normally, he would have immediately intervened but he was too lost in his thoughts by what he had witnessed. He obviously knew that they knew each other but who was she? How did they know each other? Why hasn't Tyler ever mentioned this fit Latina before?
Seeing that the fight was beginning to get even more heated than it already was, Gabriella decided to try and stop them again.

"TYLER, STOP!" She yelled again. But they didn't. This time, he didn't even respond to her voice. Oh boy she was sick of this. She was not going to be like those girls in the movie who just stand to the side screaming hopeless words at the two people fighting instead of actually doing something about it.

She began to storm towards the two of them when she felt a hand grip her arm. She saw in the corner of her eyes that it was that fit boy she was talking to. She simply shrugged him off and continued to storm towards them.

She gripped each of their arms and tried with all her might to pry the two boys apart.

"Guys that's enough now!" Gabriella yelled still trying her best to get in between the two. Ugh, this is just getting annoying now! Now being an alone girl in England, she had learnt a few things about self defence not only just from the friends she eventually made but from real life experiences and she hated to use them, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Gabriella gripped one hand on each of their ears tightly and yanked them away from one another. She watched as both of their faces screwed up in pain as they tried to get her hands off. Once they were off each other and clearly distracted from the fight did she let them go.

They both were ready give a piece of their mind to whoever pulled them away but as soon as Tyler's eyes locked with Gabriella's angry ones, his face softened. He was half scared yet half happy to see her.

"What the fuck was that?" The other boy snapped angrily. Gabriella turned her attention to the other boy.

"What the fuck was that? What the fuck was THAT?!" Gabriella replied as her hands pointed to the two of them as she looked at them with raised eyebrows and a clearly pissed off look on her face.

"Seriously, once you guys have stopped measuring each other's dicks, you can grow up and start acting so immature," Gabriella responded earning a few 'oohs' and snickers from the small crowd gathered around them. She simply just ignored them. It was not like she wanted to be known as this awesome bad ass girl or whatever but she could already tell that this fight must have been about something pointless.

The two embarrassed boys looked away in anger and embarrassment.

Troy chuckled to himself and clearly saw his buddy was in need of saving so he finally decided to step in.

"Okay guys, I think we've seen enough," He said as he stepped into the little circle gathered around the three. Everyone still stood in their same position watching carefully.

"MOVE!" Troy yelled making everyone jump as they all scattered away. The other kid ran off as well leaving Troy, Gabriella and Tyler.

"Seriously Ty, what the fuck was that about?" Gabriella questioned him getting right up in his face. Tyler refused to look in her eyes.

"He stole some hot bird I was obviously hitting on and so, I had to do something to save my rep," Tyler responded.

"Oh wow," Gabriella scoffed and just simply walked back inside. That was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.

Troy made his way over to Tyler and chuckled whilst placing a hand on his shoulder. They made their way to the sofa outside just as a fuzzy afro was seen making it's way through the crowd towards them.

"Yo dude, you alright?" Chad asked Tyler as they all collapsed onto the couch.

"Yeah, just a little blood but no serious damage done," Tyler responded. They nodded their head, happy with the answer.

"So dude, how do you know that hot chick and why have you not introduced her," Troy questioned. Tyler gave them all an 'are-you-serious' look which Chad and Troy responded with puzzled faces.

"That's Gabi," Tyler told them. Something clicked in both Troy and Chad as they shot up with their eyes wide open and their brows probably long gone from their forehead.

"Wait, that's Geeky-Gabi?" Chad asked to which Tyler just rolled his eyes and nodded knowing they didn't mean any harm from the nickname.

"The girl in those photos you've shown us that had big purple glasses on, a head brace, braids and a large back pack?" Chad continued to ask and Tyler just simply nodded.

"Guys, that photo was back when she was only like 10 years old. I don't have a lot of recent pics of her seeing as she was in London. Remember, I told you guys about her," Tyler continued.

"Yeah but I didn't think she was going to look like that," Troy responded by pointing to the direction she left in earlier. Tyler opened his voice to respond but was cut off.

"What, you still expected me to be carrying that Dora The Explorer back pack around?" Gabriella asked with a slight smirk knowing she had caught him out. She stood behind the sofa they were sat on meaning they were facing away from her.

Troy inwardly cringed as he turned around to see her standing a meter or two behind them.

"No...it's just...you know...I didn't...," Troy began to which she just chuckled as she made her way round to stand in front of them instead.

"Chill, we all have our bad moments," She replied before then turning to Tyler holding a pack of frozen peas.

"Here, for your face," Gabriella told him as she shoved the pack closer to his face. He took it and gave her a nod of thanks.

"Is that anyway to greet your sister after 9 years of not seeing her?" Gabriella asked sarcastically with a fake pout. Tyler chuckled and stood up to engulf her in a hug.

"Hey Gabs. How ya been?" He asked as he pulled away.

"Oh you know, great except for the fact I had to stop this stupid fight earlier," Gabriella added. Tyler chuckled softly before sitting back down on the sofa.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tyler told her and she nodded. Gabriella gave a soft smile before turning her attention to Troy and Chad.

Chad cleared his throat to get Tyler's attention to which he caught on.

"Uh, Troy, Chad this is Gabriella, my little sister. Gabriella, this is Troy and Chad. The President and Co-President of the Cappa House," Tyler introduced. Gabriella chuckled.

"Deary me, where are my manners? It's an honor to be in your presence," Gabriella faked gasped as she curtsied. The guys all chuckled slightly. She stood up straight again and simply shook their hands with a slight chuckle too.

Gabriella gulped slightly as her hand came in contact with Troy's. There was no denying there was some sort of spark she felt as her skin touched his. It seemed he felt the same thing too as he looked up at her with slightly widened eyes.

When Gabriella's hand came in contact with Troy's it was like Troy's heart had skipped a beat as the spark shot round his body. Her hand was so soft, so delicate so small. He could only imagine what her skin in other places felt like. Troy looked up and locked eyes with her and gulped slightly.

Her eyes. They were so big and brown and well, so innocent. All her emotions shone in her eyes making it easy for Troy to read her emotions. He could see shock and fear in her eyes. What was she scared of? Me? The feeling we most likely both felt as we held hands? Or was it just the shock of the fight earlier on? However, their was also a soft glow in her eyes that Troy had never noticed before. Excitement? He couldn't really tell that one.

After realising they were still holding one an-others hand, Gabriella cleared her throat and pulled back her hand as did Troy and looked in every other direction that was not Troy's eyes.

"I'll, um, see you guys around. I left Taylor and Sharpay in there," Gabriella stuttered as she took small steps away from them towards the door not turning her backs from them.

"Wait, Taylor's here?" Chad rushed out. Gabriella nodded and giggled as she then turned away from them and headed inside.

Troy watched her retreating figure. Her legs looked just as good from the back as they did from the front. Her hips swayed slightly. Whether she did that on purpose or not was unknown to Troy. But her giggle had hooked him to her. It was like music to his ears. He'd give anything to hear her giggle again. I mean uh what? No, I'm President of the Cappa House. I'm a playboy with a reputation and that's how it's always been and that's how it will continue to be.

As she approached the door, she turned back to face him. Troy sat their frozen as their eyes were connected. Brown meeting blue again. He physically couldn't draw his eyes away. She sent him a soft smile before opening the door and walking inside.

After a few moments of just staring at the door, Troy turned back round.

"You alright hoops? You look sorta out of it," Chad asked. Troy snapped his attention towards Chad before giving a slight nod still lost in this daze he had been captivated in.

"Okay well, if any of you hurt Gabi in any way, you will have me to answer to," Tyler told them. They both gave a nod before heading inside to party the night away.

Later on in Gabriella's home.

"Okay mom. Goodnight. Love you," Gabriella yelled from her bedroom door as she shut it closed.

Her blonde, and slightly drunk friend stumbled her way to Gabriella's bed and just fell back on it. Gabriella joined her in the process.

After lying there with their eyes closed for a second, Sharpay turned her head to her right to look at Gabriella. She noticed that Gabriella had this small smile on her face.

"What's with you?" Sharpay asked her. Gabriella faced Sharpay.

"What? Nothing," Gabriella replied as she faced the ceiling again. Sharpay continued to study her friend. Still too giddy for the Gabriella I know.

"Is anything to do with the oh-so-famous Troy Bolton?" Sharpay asked. Gabriella looked at Sharpay then back at the ceiling.

Bolton huh? So that's his last name. Suits him.

"Nooo. Nothing is going on between us," Gabriella told her. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Apart from the conversation, they didn't really talk again through out the party. However they had locked eyes quite a few times and maybe a flirty smile was added here and there.

Sharpay continued to eye Gabriella. She simply shrugged and shut her eyes again.

"I know that's not true. The chemistry coming off you two can be seen from a mile away," Sharpay simply stated. She felt Gabriella turn and face her. Sharpay opened her eyes to see a confused look on Gabriella's face.

"What? You thought I didn't see you two practically eye fucking each other? But don't worry. You will tell me all about it sooner or later," Sharpay added before closing her eyes again.

Chemistry? Troy and I have chemistry? Oh puh-lease Gabriella. You knew that right from the start when you guys touched hands.

"But Gabriella, be careful okay," Sharpay said again in a more serious voice as she opened her eyes to lock with Gabriella's and the intensity and seriousness in them sorta scaring Gabriella slightly. Plus the fact how she used Gabriella's full name instead of her nickname 'Ella'.

"Troy, he's um, not exactly the boyfriend type. Well, he's sorta known as only a temporary boyfriend I guess. You know...a player," Sharpay continued. Gabriella's smile had now died down a bit. She simply nodded before closing her eyes and being left alone with her thoughts.

Troy, a player? Well, that was sorta obvious from the beginning. I mean come on, he's the president of the Cappa house, hes ridiculously good looking, hes got a perfectly sculpted body and me, I'm just plain old Gabriella with little- average looks and no matter how many times people tell me differently, I refuse to believe them and I have practically no reputation here but maybe that will change when I start university in a few days.

Sharpay had told me that apparently we are all going to the same university. The University Of Albuquerque. (I know in America they don't go to University but oh well lol. As you can tell, I'm from England and in simpler terms university is like college. Google it XD) It has been known to have quite a high reputation. Guess I am going to be seeing more of him then. Yeah, I know it seems pretty stupid that I came back with only a few days of the summer holiday left but I wanted to spend the last summer with my friends before leaving them. Sue me.

Geez, I hope coming back here wasn't a big mistake...

A/N: Okay guyssss! First chapter, done! I'm planning to upload a new chapter every MONDAY and FRIDAY! But pleaseeee review and private message me or whatever to give your feedback but to also remind me that I have people relying on me to finish this story. Ty, ty. I have the next chapter ready but you are all going to have to wait till Friday at around 6pm ish (England Time). :*

Btw, I also currently have a few exams going on so I will try to fit in the writing with my revision sessions

Love you all my sweeties 3

~ C