CHAPTER TWO:

Gabriella stood in front of the door to the principal's office. It read, Principal Jennifer Donalds.

Donalds. So that was the woman's name. Why did it seem so familiar?

"Too much watching Mickey Mouse, Gabby," she said to herself. She wondered if she was supposed to knock, or go in, or wait in the secretary's office…

"Gabriella Montez?" said a voice.

Gabriella turned around. "Uh, yeah," she said, her throat suddenly gone dry.

"I've been waiting for you. Sit down." The woman who stood in front of her was unfamiliar, but apparently had been sitting at the secretary's desk, as the chair was still moving slightly. The woman pointed to a chair in the corner of the room. Gabriella sat down timidly.

"Look, I think there's a bit of a mistake here," Gabriella said. "I really didn't do anything wrong. I just—"

"Shut up," the secretary snapped. "Sit down and keep your mouth shut."

Gabriella sat down and kept her mouth shut.

It was a short wait. A few minutes late Principal Donalds arrived with her two bodyguards.

"Ah, good, I see you're here, Ms. Montez."

Gabriella looked up nervously. "Uh, yeah…"

Donalds gestured for Gabriella to follow her into her office. Hesitantly, the pretty brunette obeyed, stepping into the room. The office had been completely changed from when Mr. Matsui had been working there. Gabriella had only been there once, which was when she'd first arrived at East High, months ago, but she could see a huge difference. The desk had been pushed aside, and there seemed to be a lot more paperwork around. And taking up one of the entire walls was a large machine-thing, glowing blue, and pulsing with some kind of energy.

Gabriella gulped.

Donalds smiled coldly at her. "Ms. Montez, your behavior today has been unacceptable."

"Um…" Gabriella stared at her shoes. "I just—haven't—"

"Let me finish speaking," Donalds snapped, backhanding the teenager across the face. Gabriella flinched, but recovered on time to replace her expression with a glare.

She stared at Donalds in shock. "You—You just hit me!" she exclaimed.

"Would you like another slap?" Donalds asked coolly. "As far as I'm concerned, I will do whatever it takes to maintain discipline at this school. I think beating children is an excellent way to keep them in line. Which is why you're here."

"T-to beat me? You're kidding, right?" Gabriella was feeling uneasy. "You can get arrested for that! If you do anything, you will be arrested."

Donalds snorted. "I'd like to see the police try to get into this school."

"What do you mean?"

"It's none of your business, girl. I'm in charge here. You just do as I say."

Gabriella was ready to call the police then and there. Donalds's bodyguards came in, barring Gabriella from the door. Her heartbeat began to pick up, pounding against her chest so hard, she was sure everyone could hear it.

Donalds seemed to sense her fear, and looked satisfied from it. She gestured to a chair. "Sit down, Ms. Montez."

Gabriella eyed the chair. Images of those spiked chairs used for tortures in medieval times flashed through her mind. The chair showed no sign of any sharp objects about to be thrust into her back, but it didn't match the furniture in the room eaither. It did look like the kind of chair someone could be tied to.

"D-do I have to?" she asked.

"No," Donalds shrugged, looking amused.

"Really?"

"Really. But Greg and Larry are going to beat you up anyway." And with that, the principal left the room, and Gabriella stood rooted on the spot, staring at the two large men in front of her.

"When she said beat, she meant like, beat, as in, beat eggs to help make lunch… right?" she asked, suddenly feeling very small. Being 5'2", standing in the shadow of two men who were almost seven feet tall, Gabriella felt like an insect. And with those looks they were giving her, she was probably about to be squashed.

Larry grinned at her question. "Nope," he replied, slamming her into the wall. Gasping, she slid to the floor. "Get the paddle," he told his friend. "Donalds said to do this the old fashioned way."

Gabriella's eyes widened.

Chad was bored. The school day was slow, the new principal was weird, Gabriella was absent from all his classes, and Troy just didn't react as well as the quiet yet short-tempered brunette did when he threw wads of paper at the basketball star's head.

As he sat in Chemistry, copying Taylor's exact actions while working with the chemicals so he wouldn't blow the class up, the bell rang.

"YES!" Chad said, dropping everything, causing smoke to drift out of his small glass phial. "My favorite class!"

"It's lunchtime, Chad. Not a class," Taylor reminded him.

"I know!" Chad said enthusiastically. "It's my favorite class!"

Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Dude, wait up!" Troy said, grinning, as he followed his best friend out of the science lab. Taylor tagged along, looking around curiously.

"Have you guys seen Gabriella today? She was supposed to be in my History class, but wasn't," the dark skinned girl said. "Which is weird because, well, it's Gabriella were talking about. Wouldn't miss a class for the world, even if she did hate it."

"No," Chad replied. "I wonder if she ran home. Why, that coward! Why didn't she tell me? I would have gone with. We could have spent the day at the ice cream place instead of going to detention!"

"She wouldn't do that," Troy replied. "And I know what happened. She came in late for Calculus."

"So? Mr. Collins would forgive her."

"Yeah, Chad. But the new principal, Ms. Donalds, came in to introduce herself and, er, threaten us to behave, and wasn't too happy Gabby was late. I think she was sent to the office."

"Oh."

"I met the new principal earlier," Taylor spoke up. "She seemed in a rush to somewhere. Yelled at me to get out of her way. She makes Sharpay seem super sweet."

"Whoa, don't even go there," Chad said.

"Gabby!" Troy called, spotting his girlfriend.

Gabriella jumped, yelping. She had her back to the three of them.

"Whoa, Gabs, why so jumpy?" Troy asked. Gabriella turned around to look at him. "…And what happened to your eye?"

"Two words. New. Principal," she mumbled, pressing the ice to her swollen eye. Chad also noticed she walked with a slight limp, clutching her side as she did.

"What did she do?" Troy demanded.

Gabriella smiled wearily. "Troy, relax. You don't have to be so protective. I can take care of myself."

"Which is why you have a black eye," Chad said.

"Who's side are you on?" Gabriella asked.

"Mine," the afro-haired kid said, grinning.

Gabby pouted, and Troy, Taylor and Chad laughed.

"Wow, you should compete with Sharpay for drama queen," Troy said. Gabriella grinned.

"Nah, she still wins by far."

They walked slowly to lunch, joking and laughing, forgetting about the day's oddities and Gabriella was too absorbed in the conversation to think about her bruised knee and side.

They entered the cafeteria, after Troy had gotten his lunch from his locker. The four friends got in line to buy food.

Gabriella frowned. She was getting a funny feeling, as if today's lunch was the best meal she'd have for a long time. That's ridiculous, she thought. After school—er, detention, today, you'll go home.

So why did she feel so nervous?

Pushing the thoughts aside, Gabriella got her lunch and a carton of milk, and walked over to the table. Kelsi, Zeke, Jason, and Martha were already there eating. They greeted the four, who sat down.

"Hey, can I join you guys?" Ryan asked, passing by.

The other nodded, and Ryan sat next to Gabriella.

"What happened to your eye?" he asked.

She sighed. "The new principal."

"Ah."

The two ate in silence for a while as everyone else talked. It was rather amusing, Gabriella thought, watching. How they were all so different and sitting here eating lunch was so funny with the way their differences clashed. Troy and Chad were trying to listen to Zeke explaining one of his recent recipes, while Taylor and Kelsi discussed school. Kelsi looked bored.

Jason was saying random stupid things, and Martha had a pair of headphones in as she moved to her music.

Gabby smiled to herself. They were all such great friends, and didn't even realize it.

She laughed at herself, and Ryan gave her a funny look. Oh, stop being so sentimental, she scolded herself, but smiled at all her friends anyway.

"Attention, students!"

Gabriella looked up. Ms. Donalds's voice blared over the intercom.

Silence fell over the cafeteria fairly quickly.

"All students are to report to the auditorium after school to be appointed their new dormitories. Anyone who does not come to the auditorium will receive serious consequences."

Gabriella straightened in her seat at that tone of voice.

"Dormitories?" Troy said. People started speaking in feared hushed whispers. "What did she mean dormitories? This is a public school! Not a boarding school."

Gabriella glared at her food as her friends discussed this new bit of news.

Dormitories? What happened to going home?

What was Donalds up to?

Gabriella felt herself glaring even harder at her sandwich. Usually, she had a pretty big appetite. Not today. It was suddenly gone.

That's chapter two. Not the most exciting, but the next chapter should be better. I'm in a rush to go, so I can't say much more. Enjoy! Don't forget to review!