Okay, here is the first real chapter. I hope you will all enjoy it!

Chapter 1

Gabriella was starting to get more and more nervous with every step she took. She just walked out of her dorm room into the crowded hallway, feeling slightly intimidated by all the people around her. There were so many different people passing by her. She saw the typical groups that had been in every high school she had been to in her life. The jocks, the sluttish girls that followed the jocks everywhere they went, skaters, geeks, and the people that were not in any group but were always alone. She counted herself in that last category. It had always been like that, no matter where she went. Gabriella was alone. On the outside.

The first class she had was ancient history. A time she had always loved. The Greeks, the Romans and the Persians had always seemed so much more interesting to her than other nations that followed in later times. When she walked into the room where the class would take place, she saw that most of the seats were already taken. So she slipped into one of the seats in the back, next to a boy with a lot of curly hair who was talking to blond girl dressed in pink. She looked at him shortly, before turning her eyes to the front where someone was trying to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, silence please. Welcome all to the University of San Francisco. Most of you have been to the introduction camp before classes started and have gotten to know the University." That's something Gabriella did not do, a camp as an introduction was not something she wanted to attend. She did not really know how to get to know people on camps like that and rather kept to herself. "Now it's time to actually learn something. This period we're going to be working on ancient history, starting with Mesopotamia…"

The boy next to her started talking. "You know, it would be nice to introduce yourself when you sit down next to someone you don't know."

Blood immediately made it's way to Gabriella's cheeks and she started stuttering "Uh, I'm, uh… sorry. It's just… you were so busy talking, and uh, well…" She was feeling more and more embarrassed with every word that came out of her mouth.

The boy started laughing, his hair bouncing while he did so. "No need to be so afraid of me. I'm Chad. So what's your name?"

Why was this boy actually talking to her? It's not as if she was interesting in any way. She was just a shy girl, a geek that had no friends at all. When she came here, she didn't think anyone would be interested in talking to her. She didn't socialize with other people, she never had. And yet, here was this boy, that she didn't even know, talking to her. She looked at him, shocked, and realized he was still waiting for an answer. "Gabriella".

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella. I'm guessing you don't know anyone here yet? Since I didn't see you at the introduction camp." Gabriella just nodded "All right, just stay with us today then? If you like? Me and my friend Sharpay" he pointed to the girl next to him "would love to show you around a little bit."

Gabriella looked over to the girl he had just called Sharpay. She looked, well very pink and sparkly. She actually found it a little weird, how much glitters and pink could you put on one person? But she did look nice, smiling at Gabriella before she extended her hand. "Hi nice to meet you."

Gabriella shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too." She thought, it's now or never. Her only chance to make friends. And since she was not going to leave San Francisco anytime soon, she might as well try to make friends. Try to make a fresh start in this new city. "I would love to stay with you today. I haven't seen much of the university yet, so if you could show me around that could be great". Gabriella's heart was racing, but she did it. She took the first step to making friends.

Gabriella looked back to the teacher standing in front of the room, and tried to concentrate on what she was saying. It was very hard for her though, nerves were racing through her system. How would today turn out for her? Would she actually end up with some friends, or would they run away once they got to know her a little bit better? She kept glancing over at the pair. They didn't look like they were a couple, but they were definitely close, like they had known each other for a long time. Was she going to fit in with people that already knew each other so well?

When class was over, the three of them walked to the cafeteria to get some lunch. She learned that the two were indeed friends, and had known each other since kindergarten. Explaining why the two looked so close. They told her that they'd always been part of this group of friends, but that everyone split up and went to different universities. They ended up at the same university because they wanted to study the same subject, and thought it would be nice to do this together. Another friend of them was also studying in San Francisco and they were going to meet up with him later that day.

"So would you like to come this afternoon?" Chad asked Gabriella as they were eating their lunch in the cafeteria. "We're just going to watch some movie and have pizza together. Should be fun"

Gabriella smiled at the boy "Sound nice, but I can't really. I have some more unpacking to do and I still have to place all my stuff in my dorm room. Maybe some other time." Besides, meeting and talking to two people in one day was quiet something for Gabriella. She felt that it was more than enough. She would probably meet their friend some other day, but right now she really didn't feel like meeting someone else.

When at the end of the day Gabriella walked back to her dorm room she had so much to think about. Things seemed to change so rapidly. She had started university today, she moved into the dorm room a few days ago, she was not living with her mother anymore and had to take car of herself now, she had actually made some friends, sort of, and she was trying to process all of it. These were all new things to her, things she had never experienced before. Her life seemed so different than it had been a few weeks before.

Once she was in her room she started unpacking all the boxes that were still there, untouched. She had so much stuff with her that she did not know where she was going to put everything.

While unpacking her stuff Gabriella came across a box that she had not opened in a very long time. She remembered packing it in one of the cardboard boxes to move it to her dorm room. However, she did not want to look at it then. She knew exactly what was in the box. She had looked at the pictures inside it multiple times when she was a little girl. Her mother had once given it to her, explaining that the pictures inside it were very important and that she should make sure to never loose the box and always keep it safe. Gabriella took the lid of, and looked at the picture on top. It was one of her mother, still very young, with a darker man with an afro. They both looked so happy and in love. Her mother had told her that this man was her father. Though she never explained why he left, why he was not there. All she had of him was his picture. Some people may say that a picture says more than a thousand words. However, in this case a picture was not enough to tell the story.

Of course, Gabriella had tried to talk to her mother about it. She never gave an answer; saying that this was all that she could give her at the moment. At that moment, her eyes were filled with pain and Gabriella decided not to ask her about it anymore. However, now that she was looking at the picture she could not help but wanting to know what this man was like. What was his life like? Did he have any other children? How did he feel about her and her mother? Did he even know about her? If yes, why didn't he stay, why did he leave her and her mother alone? Tears started to make their way out of her eyes onto her cheeks.

Gabriella was startled by the noise of a door slamming shut and someone walking in the living room. She quickly dried her eyes, trying not to think about the picture anymore, and walked out of her room into the small living room. Standing there was an Afro-American girl that was probably her new roommate.

"Hi I'm Taylor."

"Hi Taylor, nice to meet you." Gabriella smiled at the girl "You must be my new roommate."

"Yeah I am. I just arrived here. Which room is mine?" Gabriella pointed to one of the two rooms and Taylor started carrying her belongings to the room.

"Here, let me help you with that" Taylor looked grateful at her "It's a lot of stuff you have to move, even if it's just a small dorm room."

"Yeah, I didn't think I even had so many things" Both girls laughed at this. "Have you finished unpacking yet?"

"No I was actually working on that before you came in. It's just, I don't know where to leave everything. It's such a small room and there are so many things I wanted to take with me. Besides, I'm getting kind of bored with unpacking." Gabriella laughed, but on the inside she was not feeling too happy. Talking about the unpacking she needed to do made her think of the picture she had been looking at just before Taylor came in.

"So how about we do the unpacking some other time," Taylor said "we could just order a pizza and get to know each other a little better? I mean, we have to live with each other, so it would be nice to get to know you."

Gabriella actually had a lot of fun. For the second time that day she met someone who was actually talking to her and trying to be her friend. And she was actually happy about it. It was a feeling she was not used to, but it started to feel better and better every minute. Gabriella looked at Taylor, and knew that she could possibly become a good friend. She learned that Taylor was, just like her, a straight-A student in high school and that she came here to study Chemistry. Like Gabriella she had been one of the geeks in school, though she did have friends, which Gabriella didn't. Taylor told her that she had come here, to be far away from home and be able to make a new start with her life, get to know new people and to be whoever she wanted to be. Gabriella liked that idea. Her and Taylor would both be making a new start in San Francisco. They promised each other that life here would be better, more fun and that they would not judge each other. It was going to be the start of something new.

So what did you think? I'd love to know whether you liked it, or whether you didn't. Please let me know what you think was good or what you think should be done different in the next chapters. It will only make the story better!

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Thanks for reading!