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Gabriella's First Day of Preschool (following Gabriella)
"But mommy! What if they think I'm a freak?" Gabriella whined. It was a few hours into school already, but Gabriella and her mother were running a bit late.
"Why in the world would they think you are a freak?" Ms. Montez asked curiously.
"'Cause I can read." She squeaked.
"Honey, I know they won't think you're a freak." Her mother soothingly told her. They got to the office of the small preschool, near the elementary across the street.
"Hello. Are you Laura Montez? To sign in your daughter?" The lady at the desk smiled warmly.
"Yes. This is Gabriella." Ms. Montez signed a sign-in sheet.
"How old is she?"
"Four. Starts kindergarten next year." Ms. Montez replied. The lady nodded, and spoke to Gabriella.
"You'll be in Miss Shannon's room." She smiled warmly again at Gabriella, who shyly looked up.
"Here's her stuff. I've got a couple of books in there that she should like. There's also another pair of clothes." Ms. Montez handed her a bag, then turned to give her daughter a hug.
"I'll see you later sweetie, okay?" They broke the hug and Ms. Montez walked out the door nearly in tears. She hated to see her daughter unhappy. This was for the best, though; a permanent home.
Gabriella took the lady's hand (her name is Mrs. Carol) and followed her down the hallway to a classroom big enough for 15 kids to freely run around in. It had a puzzle version of hopscotch on the floor, a plastic play place, a fake kitchen, and lots of cubbies. It was playtime outside, so Mrs. Carol set down Gabriella's bag in an open cubby, and led Gabriella out to the playground.
"You're name is Gabriella. That's a very pretty name." Mrs. Carol commented.
"Thanks." Gabriella nearly whispered. She was shaking nervously. "You can call me Gabi. Lots of people do."
"Okay, I'll call you Gabi from now on." Mrs. Carol reached a section of the playground that a group of four-year-olds were happily playing at.
"Here is your new student." Mrs. Carol told a young woman that was in her early twenties.
"And who is this?" Ms. Shannon asked cheerfully.
"Gabriella." Gabriella was still whispering.
"That's a nice name."
"Thanks. You can call me Gabi, though."
"Sure thing. We just got out here, so there's plenty of time to play outside!" Ms. Shannon motioned to all the playing kids. Gabriella walked over to a sandbox and took a seat on the edge. She took her first glance at all of her classmates.
On the swings were two girls, one with dark hair, and one with reddish-brown hair. They were swinging really low, like they were afraid to go any higher. The one with darker hair had her hair in a ponytail, while the other one had hers braided down the back.
Gabriella looked over to the wooden play structure where a boy and a girl were standing on top of. They looked a lot alike, and the girl was the only girl on the playground wearing her hair down. Gabriella wrapped the hair from one of her pigtails around her finger. The other girl was looking all over the playground with a grouchy look. Something about her made Gabriella not want to have anything to do with her.
Cheering caught her attention next, and she looked over to a small concrete play area. Three boys were playing with a bright orange ball, putting it into a plastic net that hung slightly over their heads. Two were arguing, one of them had short black hair, the other had very big dark brown hair. The other one looked upset and just stood on the sidelines. Some other kids were on the playground, but they were all running so fast, Gabriella couldn't keep up with her eyes.
Gabriella walked closer to the group of boys.
"Chad! That was mean!" The one with short hair was saying. "You pushed Jason on purpose!"
"I did not! He was in my way to make the basket!" The boy with big hair said. "It's not my fault he wasn't looking!" The two glared at each other.
"It's okay, Zeke." The one standing off to the side said. "I'm okay. I just got a scrape, that's all."
"You sure, Jason?"
"Yeah."
"What's going on?" Gabriella heard the voice coming from the building. She looked up, and saw the one boy she had least expected to be here. He must have been inside doing something all this time.
"Troy." She breathed. The two arguing boys filled him in on what was happening. He had just gotten back from the bathroom with another teacher. Gabriella was too scared to go over and say hi."It makes you sick to watch, don't it?" Gabriella jumped as the voice behind her spoke. The girl in the ponytail was right behind her.
"I guess." She replied, unsure of what to say.
"I'm Taylor. You must be new." Taylor led her over to the swings.
"I'm Gabriella. Everyone calls me Gabi, though." Gabriella didn't say anything about reading, afraid her new friend would think it was weird, too.
"Welcome, Gabi!" Taylor smiled and sat on the swing. The reddish-brown headed girl looked up from her place on the swing. "This is Kelsi."
"I'm Gabi." Gabriella tried to smile, and Kelsi gave her a weak smile in return. Taylor started talking to her about all the people to watch out for, and Gabriella listened intently.
"…and the music teacher is evil…" Taylor continued. "But the worst of all, is those two." She pointed to the two blondes on the wooden play structure. The girl looked like she had just come from talking to someone at the sandbox.
"Who're they?" Gabriella's eyes widened.
"Sharpay and Ryan. They're twins."
"Ooh! What's so bad about them?" Gabriella tilted her head.
"It's not really Ryan. It's Sharpay. She doesn't like anybody that's not good at acting." Taylor replied.
"Why?" Gabriella asked shyly. She still wasn't comftorable around other kids.
"I dunno. They just don't." Taylor shrugged. They started swinging, and Gabriella started going higher and higher. She noticed that Taylor and Kelsi were hesitantly following her swinging antics. Gabriella took one glance at the basketball court, and could have sworn she caught the eyes of Troy.
Earlier (following Troy)Troy listened to Chad and Zeke's arguments. Chad had pushed Jason down trying to make a basket. Zeke didn't like that, because he wanted to play fair. Finally, the two settled it, and they got back to a two on two game; Troy and Chad against Zeke and Jason.
The boys were taking a break, and Troy sat down by the sandbox.
"You're so good at basketball!" Sharpay exclaimed from behind Troy. He jumped in surprise. Why me? He silently thought. Sharpay had been getting really annoying the last few weeks.
"Um… Thanks?" Troy smiled weakly, pouring sand in a bucket.
"What'cha doin' all by yourself?" Sharpay sat down next to Troy.
"Playing in the sand."
"I could have guessed that." Sharpay tried to help him, but he ignored her, like he always did. He found girls annoying. Well, except for that one girl at the mall, but he'd probably never see her again.
"You're no fun!" Sharpay threw down her plastic shovel and stomped back off to her usual perch on the wooden play structure. Troy sighed and got up to go play some more basketball.
He was in the middle of a play, when he looked over at the swing set. There were three girls on there, besides the usual two. Troy squinted and saw someone he least expected to see.
Gabriella! He thought excitedly. He got eye contact with her, but Zeke stole the ball from him, so Troy went back to the game. He forgot for a second, because Chad was yelling at him for letting the ball slip past them. The teacher then warned Chad about the yelling and announced it was time to go inside.
Troy watched as Gabriella walked inside with Taylor and Kelsi, smiling like she fit in.
Figures. Troy thought as he followed his friends inside. Taylor was probably making her think he was a bad person.
Snack Time (following both)
Gabriella took a seat by herself at the plastic table in the corner. Taylor and Kelsi were still asleep from their naps. The only other kids up were the basketball guys and Sharpay. Troy noticed her presence and walked over to her with his snack.
"I 'member you." Troy said, acting as casual as possible.
"So do I." Gabriella looked down at her empty napkin. Sharpay had taken her snack when she wasn't looking, then giving them to Troy. Gabriella had been too scared to say anything. She was finally understanding the ways of Sharpay Evans.
"So you're going to East Preschool?" Troy asked and Gabriella nodded.
"My mom would have brought me earlier, but we were running a little late."
"Where's your snack?" Troy asked, concerned, finally noticing the empty napkin.
"Sharpay took them." She nervously whispered.
"That's mean. Here, you can have the ones she gave me." Troy handed her most of his crackers, obviously not seeing the connection. Gabriella retured it with a smile and they began to talk a little bit...
Sharpay was glaring at the two from the other corner. She woke up Ryan, who groggily listened to her complain.
"They're sharing a snack! How DARE she!" Sharpay said, louder than she meant to. The teacher came over to them.
"Is there a problem Sharpay? You need to let your brother sleep."
"No there isn't, Miss Shannon. I just wanted to share my snack with Ryan." Sharpay said innocently.
"Okay…" Ms. Shannon walked back to her desk, and continued to keep a close eye on Sharpay.
"What's wrong?" Ryan was zoning in and out.
"Troy! The new girl! Sharing snacks!" Sharpay said sharply.
"Is that something bad?" Ryan asked, confused.
"Troy's MINE!" Sharpay pouted.
"But you don't ever talk to him…" Ryan shrugged.
"He's still mine. He shouldn't be talking to the new girl… I have to do something…" Sharpay thought as a smirk came across her small lips.
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