A/N: Ok, well this is my first Fan Fiction EVER, so please be nice. I'm open to constructive criticism. This was just a random idea that I had while I was watching HSM recently

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CHAPTER ONE

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It was a Friday afternoon, and Taylor and Gabriella were walking down the halls of East High. It was free period, and they were wandering around talking to each other. Suddenly, a pair of hands covered Gabriella's eyes. "Guess who!" a very familiar voice asked.

Taylor rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't like Troy, or that she disapproved in any way. She kind of liked watching them fool around and flirt with each other. She leaned her shoulder against the lockers and watched Troy and Gabriella talking and flirting with each other. Chad, who had been talking with Troy until he'd spotted Gabriella, was beside her.

"Was it just me, or did Darbus seem unusually nice today?" Chad was making small talk. They were both waiting for Gabby and Troy to finish.

"I noticed that too. I wonder what it could be." Taylor said idly. Normally they wouldn't be talking. At the after party, which she and Chad had gone together to, Chad and Taylor had separated and had started hanging out with their usual groups. Taylor didn't think that they'd spent more than 10 minutes together the entire night. Now they were back to the way they'd been before the whole musical thing, with the one exception that both of their best friends were dating each other. Taylor supposed that put them on the friendship level.

After a few minutes of chitchat, which neither of them was really interested in, Troy and Gabriella joined them. They talked as a group until the bell rang, then Taylor and Gabby headed off to their Chemistry class, while Troy and Chad went to P.E.

-----HSM-----

That night Gabby slept over at Taylor's. Their once-a-week sleepovers had become somewhat of a ritual, both of the girls loving being able to spend a night just talking, watching movies, eating junk food, having fun and forgetting about schoolwork.

Tonight, they were sitting in Taylor's living room, watching "John Tucker Must Die." They were at the part where the cheerleaders were doing their routine, when Taylor's older brother Damien walked through the room.

"Wow, those guys are pretty good. Not as good as you were, though." He laughed, thinking to himself that he was a pretty great guy to compliment his sister. As he left the room, Gabby looked at Taylor questioningly.

Taylor realized that she would finally have to explain things, so she whispered to Gabby, "not now, I'll tell you later." Gabby nodded, and went back to watching the movie.

Later that night, when they were in bed talking, Gabby brought up the subject. "What did Damien mean when he said that you were better than they were?"

Taylor took a deep breath, and explained.

"Well, this is my first year at East High, same as you. We moved here to Albuquerque during the summer. In my old High school, I was a cheerleader. Not just a cheerleader, but I was pretty good friends with the head cheerleader. I had average grades, mostly B's, but I was getting them without trying, because cheer was the only thing that mattered to me. When we moved here, I realized that cheer was good; it was a lot of fun! But cheer didn't get you scholarships (A/N: I have no idea if this is true in the States), grades got you scholarships. The whole moving made me realize that we weren't rich. I mean, we're not poor or anything, but Mom and Dad don't make enough to be able to contribute much to my higher education. If I wanted to go to a good college, I'd have to win scholarships. If I wanted scholarships, I'd have to make my grades spectacular. So, at East High, I'm concentrating on my studies."

"But what about cheerleading? You said you loved it." Gabby said softly, wondering if maybe she was just making it worse.

"I do miss cheering for the crowd, and having everybody yelling and getting people's spirits up. But I joined cheer in the first place because I loved dancing. So now, after school, I go to a dance studio and dance there." Taylor was quiet for a few seconds, and then she realized something. "Gabby, you can't tell anyone."

"Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because now that I'm not a cheerleader, I look at the way the cheerleaders act from the outside, and I've realized that cheerleaders are stereotyped just as much as us science geeks are. Being stereotyped as a cheerleader, even though it makes you popular, is worse than being stereotyped as a science geek. Besides, if everyone suddenly knew I was a cheerleader, they would start gossiping and watching my every move. I'd much rather be in the crowd than the center of attention."

"That kind of makes sense. Alright, I won't tell anybody."

"Thank you so much. You know, it feels kind of good to have someone know." Taylor smiled, and the girls talked of other subjects before drifting off to sleep.