"Gabriella?" Troy caught her arm as she walked out of the homeroom door at the end of homeroom.

"Troy?" Gabriella squeaked as Troy led her away from the door.

"Whoa, yeah, it's me! What are you doing here?" Troy asked, shocked.

"Um, my mom got transferred here to Albequerque… What are you doing here?"

"I've lived here pretty much since I was born," Troy said. "Hey, what class do you have next? I can walk you there, I have a free block."

"Oh, I have a free too! I'm probably just gonna walk around, check things out. This place is huge…"

"I can totally take you around! This is unbelievable. I can't believe you're here!" Troy began, walking down the hall with her.

"Um, you really don't have to, I'm sure your friends will want you around."

"Nah, the guys are probably shooting free throws or something. Come on, I'll show you the caf and stuff."

Lunchtime…

Gabriella wandered aimlessly around the cafeteria, clutching her tray to her chest. As soon as she had exited the ridiculously long queue for lunch, she entered the cavernous red and white cafeteria. Looking over the balcony rail to the lunch tables below, she saw that Troy was surrounded by cheerleaders and who she presumed to be his teammates.

"Hi! I'm Taylor… are you new here?" A girl tapped on Gabriella's shoulder, pulling her out of her observations.

"Hi… I'm Gabriella. I just came here today," Gabriella said, taken aback by Taylor's forwardness.

"No worries. Are you a junior?" Gabriella nodded. "Come sit with me down there." Taylor led Gabriella down the stairs.

"Girls, this is Gabriella…"

"Montez." Gabriella clarified.

"She just came here today! Gabriella, this is Martha, Katherine, Julia, Clayton, and Angela," Taylor said, pointing to each person as they waved. "So Gabi, where are you from?"

"I just moved from New York City. I've moved around a lot ever since I was nine, and I was only there for the last part of sophomore year. The first part of junior year I was in Ohio," Gabriella said.

"New York City?" Martha enquired. "I've always wanted to go there. What school did you go to?"

"I um… I went to Stuveysant," Gabriella said tentatively.

"Stuveysant?" Taylor perked up. "Wow. Did you know- of course you know. Last year they won the national scholastic decathlon!"

"Taylor's team captain of our team," Angela put in.

"I was… I was on Stuy's team last year," Gabriella said, mentally slapping herself for revealing herself so quickly.

"No way." Taylor said, "Gabriella, you HAVE to come join the team."

"Taylor, give her room to breathe. She just got here today!" Martha said, rolling her eyes at Taylor's enthusiasm.

"Think seriously about it, Gabi! We could really use you." Taylor continued earnestly. She checked her watch. "Okay, it's almost time for class. Gabriella, do you know where you're going?"

"Yeah, I have AP Chem," Gabriella said, checking her schedule.

"Me too. I'll walk you there," Taylor said.

/*/*/*/*/*/

"So if you don't mind me asking, why have you moved around so much?" Taylor said as they prepared their lab bench. "I mean, if it was your dad's job, then why didn't your parents just send you to a boarding high school like Phillip's Academy Andover or something like that?"

"My mom's job," Gabriella cut in. "My family wanted to stick together, and I didn't want to leave them. It's been hard for the past few years, but I've gotten used to it, I guess. I have a little brother, Jonah, and my mom and I and him are really tight."

"That's good," Taylor said, wanting to know more but sensing that Gabriella was closed off about her dad. "I'm really glad that you're here… You seem like a great person, and I'm sure you'll be an awesome influence on East High. I really like you."

"Oh! Um, thanks…" Gabriella blushed at Taylor's bluntness. "East High feels really… comfortable. Hey um… You know Troy Bolton?"

"Troy Bolton. Oh God, please don't tell me you have a crush on him already. It's only the first day!" Taylor said as she copied down the equations on the whiteboard.

"No, no!" Gabriella protested, blushing deeper. "It's just…" she lowered her voice. "I met him over the break, when I was in Colorado, and we hung out a bit. I ran into him today after homeroom, and he took me around. I just wanted to know if he's a known psychopath or something like that!"

"No, Troy's a nice guy," Taylor started. "It's just that… Oh my God, he's like, East High royalty. Everyone treats him like he's the shit, but it's only because he made starting varsity in his sophomore year." Gabriella looked puzzled. "Basketball," Taylor clarified. "I mean, I think he's nice. He's no that smart though, or he is and could just try a lot harder. But basketball," Taylor said disdainfully, "is a waste of time."

"Alright class, please copy the problems down on the board. This should be easy, it's review," Mr. Cottle said, sitting down at his desk. "Work in pairs, please. Mr. Danforth, kindly put your basketball down and take out a piece of paper and a pencil. That should work better for this in-class activity."

"Sorry, Mr. Cottle," Chad muttered, grabbing his binder from his backpack and swiping a pencil from Katherine's desk. Troy turned around, setting his binder in his lap, the questions already copied down on his paper. "Alright, man, let's get to work."

"Hoops, what's gotten into you today? Why'd you miss free period practice?" Chad asked, whacking Troy on the arm. "You look all… weird."

"Okay. I'm not all weird. I missed practice… you know what, I missed practice because it's none of your fucking business," Troy said, whacking Chad back.

"Ooo, sassy!" Zeke cut in, having pulled a chair over to the two boys.

"Shut up, Baylor," Troy said, pushing Zeke almost off his chair good naturedly.

"It's a chick, isn't it," Chad said. "You get with Liza or something?"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Okay. Over the break, I met this girl on New Year's Eve, and yeah."

"Cyber sex?" Chad said, raising his eyebrows comically. "That's kinky, bro."

"Pervert," Troy said, chucking his pencil at his best friend's forehead. "No, she was in homeroom today! That new girl, Gabriella, the one Matsui brought in. Anyway, I took her around."

"We know what that means," Chad said, throwing Troy's pencil at Zeke.

"You perv," Zeke said. "So, you gonna ask her out or something? I saw her sitting with the nerds."

"No, no… I just thought it was cool, dude. Come on, we'd better do these problems."

Chad raised his eyebrows again and complied, and decided he would wait until practice to bug his almost-brother about this new girl.

A/N:

Okay, that was chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed. Please review with any comments or suggestions!

~Jackie