AN: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I didn't intend for it to take this long and I'm hoping it won't happen again, but if it does, just bare with me please. Anyway, I really didn't like this chapter a whole lot, but it's hopefully better than nothing. Thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter and this one too.

Disclaimer: HSM is not mine.

At 6:00 AM, Troy's alarm clock startled him out of his sleep. Groaning, he rolled over and turned it off, ready for another boring day at East High. After getting dressed and ready for school, he headed downstairs to eat breakfast like he did every other morning, only to find his mother and Gabriella already downstairs.

"Good morning, Troy," Mary said cheerily. "Gabriella woke up an hour early and already ate, so once you're done, you guys can go so you can show Gabriella around."

Troy nodded, but on the inside, he was trying to think of any possible way to get out of it. He knew his friends would just torment him all day if he so much as showed her around, even if he pretended not to actually know her.

Gabriella glanced over at Troy, and she could immediately tell he was deep in thought. She figured he was probably thinking of a way to get out of showing her around, meaning she would be left alone in a new school and unable to ask for directions. She couldn't say she didn't like Troy since she knew little about him, but he did scare her a bit. She didn't know what was worse, being alone in a new school or being shown around by a guy like Troy who had a bad attitude.

Once Troy had finished eating, he stood up from the table and put his dirty dishes in the dish washer. After saying goodbye to Mary, he started walking towards the door, expecting Gabriella to follow him, which she did after a moment's hesitation.

Once outside, Troy led her to the bus stop without saying a word to her until they were a block away, where Troy stopped and pulled Gabriella out of view.

"Now, remember what I said yesterday?" Troy asked, cutting to the chase.

Gabriella nodded. 'How can I forget?'

"Good, those rules take into effect now," Troy said and started walking away.

Gabriella sighed miserably and followed him a few feet behind. It was times like these that she wished for just one minute she could speak because that would be long enough for her to put people like Troy Bolton in their places, but even with a voice, she probably wouldn't anyway because she wasn't that kind of person.

"Yo, Troy, who's the girl?" someone asked him as they reached the bus stop. Gabriella looked at the boy, who was now giving her a strange look as if to say 'Who are you, and why are you here?'

"No one, Jase, she's just my new neighbor," Troy lied.

"What's up with her face?" Jason asked him and laughed. "It looks diseased!"

'I'm standing right here, you know!' Gabriella thought bitterly, willing herself not to cry. She knew he was definitely one of Troy's friends because they were both obviously jerks.

Troy laughed along with him. "Yeah, but from what I heard, her home burned in a fire, which is why she moved here. She can't talk either."

"That's ridiculous. Sure it's not just an act?" Jason asked him.

"I hope not," Troy said with a laugh. "Just one less girl who won't shut up to put up with."

Gabriella wished she could run away from both of them, but she couldn't give them the satisfaction of letting them know they had won.

Luckily for Gabriella, the bus came into view a few seconds later. Troy and Jason immediately got on and sat in the back. Gabriella got on after them and searched for a seat. She wanted to sit alone, but someone occupied every seat, so she picked a seat towards the front of the bus. The person she sat next to was a short, quiet-looking girl with short, auburn hair and glasses. The girl turned from the window and gave her a warm smile.

"Hi, I'm Kelsi," she greeted her.

Gabriella gulped. Now was when she really wished she could talk. Kelsi appeared to be nice, and she certainly didn't want to seem stuck-up.

"Um, are you okay?" Kelsi asked her after a long pause.

Gabriella stuck her index finger up, signaling for her to wait a minute. She started opening her bag and soon pulled out a notebook and pen. Kelsi watched her as she began writing something on a blank sheet of paper before handing it to her.

I'm Gabriella, or Gabi for short. I lost my voice after a fire destroyed my home, which is also why my face looks the way it does.

Kelsi looked at her, stunned for a moment before handing her back the notebook. "Wow, that's terrible! Is your family okay?"

Gabriella quickly wrote her response on the paper and handed it back to her. After reading her answer, Kelsi gasped and looked back up at Gabriella, who had a calm expression on her face, much to Kelsi's surprise.

"Oh my gosh, Gabriella! I'm so sorry!" Kelsi cried. To her, Gabriella seemed like a pretty nice person, and she certainly wasn't the type who deserved such bad luck in her life. She felt that it was people like Sharpay Evans and her boyfriend, Troy Bolton, who deserved it. They acted as though they were the King and Queen of East High, but the couple treated everyone who wasn't a jock, cheerleader or a drama club member like dirt. However, Kelsi knew that if Sharpay wasn't his girlfriend, Troy would look down upon the drama club as well.

"But, if your parents are, you know, then who are you living with?" Kelsi asked after a brief moment of silence.

Gabriella remembered that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone that she was living with the Boltons, but she didn't want to lie to Kelsi. Even though they had just met, Gabriella had a feeling that Kelsi was someone she should hold on to as a friend, and she definitely didn't want to lie to her.

Quickly, Gabriella wrote down her response and handed it to Kelsi.

Don't tell anyone. I'm living with my godparents, the Bolton's. Kelsi's eyes widened in shock a she read her answer. She didn't know Mrs. Bolton, but she knew Mr. Bolton and Troy. Mr. Bolton was the gym teacher and basketball coach, and he was okay, but Troy was one of the worst. He wasn't accepting of change, and she knew that Gabriella being there would bring conflict in the Bolton household if it hadn't already done so.

"I feel so bad for you!" Kelsi said once she was over her shock. "Is it bad living there, with him?" Kelsi motioned towards the back of the bus where Troy and a few others were sitting and talking.

After writing her response on the paper, Gabriella handed it back over to Kelsi.

He told me not to tell anyone where I live, or that I even know him. He also said he's glad I can't talk.

"Typical," Kelsi said after reading her reply. "However, I'm not surprised. He treats a lot of people like dirt. He and his jock friends especially go after the smarter kids."

Gabriella gulped. She was one of the smartest students at her old school, so did this mean Troy and his friends would target her? It was enough that he ignored her while they were at home; she didn't need to be pushed around by him at school.

"Uh, so, Gabriella, who's homeroom are you in, do you know?" Kelsi asked, quickly changing the subject after noticing Gabriella's nervousness.

Gabriella quickly wrote down her homeroom teacher's name and handed it to Kelsi.

"Ms. Darbus, huh?" Gabriella nodded. "Troy and Jason, plus all of Troy's other jock friends have her as well, plus his girlfriend and her brother. Good luck, you'll need it."

Gabriella and Kelsi continued talking or, in Gabriella's case, writing until the bus pulled up to the school. Kelsi showed Gabriella to the principal's office and gave her a tour of the school, even though it was supposed to be Troy's job, but he was glad to get out of it.

"…Well, here's your homeroom," Kelsi said once she had shown Gabriella the rest of the school.

Gabriella looked inside the classroom and found an elderly woman wearing glasses sitting at a desk. From Gabriella's perspective, the woman didn't appear to be too friendly, but she hoped she was wrong.

"Um, Ms. Darbus?" Kelsi started shyly, getting the grey/blonde-haired teacher's attention.

Ms. Darbus looked up from her papers to Kelsi, then to Gabriella. "Yes?"

"This is Gabriella Montez, your new student," Kelsi explained.

"Ah, yes, welcome to East High, Miss Montez," Ms. Darbus greeted her. "There's an empty seat in the back you can have."

Gabriella nodded and walked towards the empty seat, trying to ignore the fact that just about everyone in the room was looking at her.

Meanwhile, in the front of the room, Troy was listening to his girlfriend, Sharpay, going on about how terrible the winter musical auditions were going to be.

"…I mean, there's no talent at all in this school! Well, except me, of course," the blonde stated, but then she remembered something, or someone. "Oh, and Ryan, I guess. But, still, he's nothing without me!"

"Hey! I heard that!" her twin said from behind her.

"Oh whatever!" Sharpay said and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you'll come to watch my musical, right, Troy?"

"Yeah, of course," Troy answered, but he could think of a million and one better ways to waste his time.

"Good, I'll see you there!" Sharpay said, giving him a peck on the lips before walking back to her own desk.

Several minutes later, Ms. Darbus had begun talking about the upcoming musical. However, the only ones interested were Ryan and Sharpay.

"So, dude, what do you think?" a bushy-haired boy whispered to Troy when Ms. Darbus had her back turned. He was Chad Danforth, Troy's best friend since kindergarten, and he, like Troy, was a popular jock.

"About what?" Troy asked in a whisper, confused.

"The new girl!" Chad said in a loud whisper. "She looks weird. I mean, what's that on her face, anyway?"

Troy shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe it's a skin disease?"

"Yeah, you better stay away from her! We might get it!" Chad said, forgetting to whisper. They now had the entire class's attention, including Ms. Darbus who wasn't happy.

Ms. Darbus glared at them. "Care to explain what was so interesting that you had to interupt my class, Mr. Danforth?"

"Not really," Chad answered.

"Say it or else I'll give you detention," she warned him.

Chad looked from Ms. Darbus to Troy, who had a nervous look on his face. If he didn't say anything, he would get in trouble with coach Bolton, but if he did tell, it would totally embarrass the new girl, who's name he still didn't know. Finally, Chad made his decision.

"Well? I'm waiting," Ms. Darbus said, growing impatient.

"Troy just said that the new girl might have some sort of skin disease," Chad said, sending Troy a look that basically said that he wasn't going down alone.

Half of the class started laughing, apparently all Troy's friends. Troy felt a pang of guilt as his eyes landed on Gabriella, who had her face buried in a book in an attempt to keep people from seeing her crying. He knew what he said was completely out of line, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The damage had already been done.

"Detention for both of you, after school," Ms. Darbus said sternly, handing them both a small sheet of paper each.

"But, Troy and I have basketball practice," Chad pointed out.

"Well, then you should have thought about that before you interrupted my class with your childish remarks," Ms. Darbus pointed out.

"But-" Chad started, but Troy cut him off.

"Save it, Chad," Troy said. "We're doing detention no matter what we say."

Chad sighed frustrated, but he didn't say another word, and Ms. Darbus went back to talking to the class as though nothing had happened.

As soon as homeroom was over, Gabriella practically ran out of the class to escape the stares and snickers. One of her worst fears was coming true. People were judging her based on her appearance, but none of them knew anything about her. She hadn't been there a half an hour yet and already she felt like a complete outcast.

"Hey, wait up!" Gabriella turned around to see a young, African-American girl coming towards her. Confused, Gabriella stopped.

"What those two lunkheads said was terrible, and I'm so sorry that they said that!" the girl started. "By the way, I'm Taylor McKessie."

Gabriella smiled a bit and opened her notebook to a new page. Taylor watched in confusion as she started writing. Once she was done, she handed the notebook to Taylor, who read what she wrote:

That's okay, I'm slowly getting used to it. I'm Gabriella, by the way. I can't talk, which is why I need this notebook.

"Whoa," Taylor said, looking back at her. "I'm so sorry to hear that!"

Just then, the late bell rang. Taylor groaned, for she believed that getting detention for being late would not look good on her future Harvard college application.

"Uh, what class do you have next?" Taylor asked her, and Gabriella handed Taylor her schedule.

"Oh, good! We have English together next! I'll just tell the teacher I was showing you around. What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Taylor said and led her down the hall.

'At least they're not all like him,' Gabriella thought to herself, glad to have at least two people there who weren't like Troy and his friends.

Once school had let out, Gabriella quickly rushed home to the Boltons. She was lucky that Troy had detention to serve after school, so she was glad she didn't have him to face him anytime soon.

After she had arrived, she was greeted by Mary, who asked her whether her first went all right. She had just nodded and, in her own way, explained that she had homework she needed to get done and went upstairs to her room.

Once inside, Gabriella pulled out her diary and began writing.

Dear Diary,

Today was almost completely disastrous! Troy made some comment about me in homeroom, and ever since, his jock friends have been snickering and staring at me like I'm a freak! What have I ever done to him for him to do this to me? I didn't ask to live here! All I wanted was for someone to accept me for me, is that too much to ask for?

Anyway, I met two other people today, Kelsi and Taylor. Both are seemingly nice, and they accept me for who I am (unlike some people). I have a few classes with each one, and I ride the bus with Kelsi, but she had to stay after school today and help set up for the winter musical auditions since she's the composer. Anyway, I also learned that Taylor is the captain of the scholastic decathlon team. If I could talk, then I would join like I did at my last school, but I'm useless without my voice.

Well, hopefully things will be better tomorrow, but I really doubt it. I've got homework I have to do, but I'll try to write some more tomorrow.

Gabriella