Gabriella could feel the intense unhappy stares from the cheerleaders for getting to sit with Troy, she could feel the mocking stares from some of her other classmates for the way she probably looked right at that moment, and she could feel Troy's stare from behind her, though she's unsure what kind of stare he's giving her. She really didn't like the stares she was given, yet all she could do at that point in time was stare at Mr. Gabriel. How ironic, she thought.

Sharpay, seeing Gabriella's unresponsiveness, nudged Gabriella with her elbow. It was like a wake up call for Gabriella and she finally seemed to be in control of herself again. She looked at Sharpay gratefully for a moment and turned back to Mr. Gabriel.

"I-" Gabriella uttered, but she did not manage to complete that sentence as Mr. Gabriel cut her off. What she meant to say was that she would much rather be seated next to Sharpay who had somehow or rather become her tour guide and info guide in East High. She was new and she needed someone to teach her the ropes and she would much rather it be Sharpay whom she felt she could actually comfortable with.

"It's okay," Mr. Gabriel joked, "you don't have to answer. I know you are probably too shocked that you are going to seat beside the boy who has a major part in helping us clinch the basketball championships last year and hopefully this year as well."

"Darn well we are!" Chad cheered. "My boy Troy's got mad skills!" Following that, the entire classroom erupted into cheers and the excitement in class only grew. This school is even more obsessed with basketball than my brothers, Gabriella immediately thought.

Mr. Gabriel waited for the excitement in class to die down before smirking, "Plus, I know how many of you girls are smitten with him."

The girls in the class started talking loudly and many sighs were heard amidst the gushing. As Gabriella looked around, it appeared that every single girl was chatting with another, and all their topics revolved around Troy. Even Sharpay herself had also included herself in one of the conversations, although she was not as excited as some of the other girls, Gabriella could tell that Troy definitely had some effect on her. Meanwhile, Gabriella had accidentally heard Chad saying softly, "Turn on the Bolton charm!" and then two distinct soft laughter.

Gabriella felt like she had been ridiculed for some reason. Even though those comments weren't directed towards her, she felt like she was the butt of their jokes. She knew she was being over sensitive but that was the way she was. She could feel the blood rising up to her cheeks and knew that soon her blush will be obvious to all. She tried to hide it once more. Seems like she's been doing that a lot today, and it's only the second class of the first day of school.

"Okay, so Chad and Gabriella, change places and let me get ready to discuss this semester's syllabus," Mr. Gabriel concluded.

Gabriella gave Sharpay a look that said she didn't want to move but Sharpay only whispered back an "it'll be fine" before pushing her gently. Gabriella got her books and got off her seat. She trudged to the back where Chad was doing the same. They looked at each other wordlessly before they both heaved a sigh and walk towards their respective places.

As Gabriella sat down, she didn't allow herself one look at Troy. She made use of her hair like a curtain to block her view of Troy throughout the lesson while she just flipped through her books without listening to the teacher. Syllabuses were nothing, they were barely important. It was just a way to get students into the school mood after the holidays.

During the entire lesson, Gabriella did not feel the burn of any stares and that was good, considering how many she got the entire morning, or rather first two lessons. Not even from Troy, which made her even more relieved. The bell rang after what felt like a long time to Gabriella and she immediately stood up with her books and ran to Sharpay's side.

"Someone's on the edge," Sharpay noted.

"I just…It was awkward okay?" Gabriella was frustrated.

Sharpay had already got all her things and they left the classroom with the rest of the students. "Okay, okay! Let's just see if you're lucky enough to have the same class as me again."

Gabriella looked at the schedule that was on top of all her books. "Math. You?"

"Guess we're not that fated after all. I'm going for literature that a-way," Sharpay pointed before peering over at my schedule. "Your class is to the left, walk all the way to the end then turn right and at the first corner turn left. It should be easy to find from there."

Gabriella mentally pictured the route. "Thanks. Well, see you around I guess…"

"Wait, you want to meet up for lunch later?" Sharpay offered.

"I want to…But I promised my brothers I'll eat with them today. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow…" Gabriella said while walking backwards before waving to Sharpay. She followed Sharpay's instructions and found the class in no time at all. Thank you, Sharpay! Gabriella mentally thanked.

Fortunately, nothing much happened in Math lesson. Gabriella wasn't even called out once during the whole lesson and the dull math teacher kept going on and on about the syllabus. The teacher was an old man with spectacles perched at the end of his nose. Some of the students had boldly slept during his lesson but he did not even notice. Gabriella could almost predict the kind of results these students got in his lessons.

Finally, after Math, it was time for lunch and free period. Thankfully, the cafeteria was not a difficult place to find since most students were headed in that direction anyway. Gabriella followed the crowed and soon, she came face to face with the cafeteria doors. Pushing the doors, she searched for her brothers.

"Hey Gabs!" a voice behind startled her. Gabriella turned around and unintentionally flipped her hair a little too much.

"Ow!" Aloysious complained, placing a hand over his cheek, "I didn't even know hair hurt that much!"

"Now you know better than to scare me like that!" Gabriella retorted.

"Aaron wanted me to come and get you," Aloysious said, rubbing her cheek, "come on, he's almost done getting our lunches."Aloysious pulled Gabriella off to an empty table to the side and sat down.

From where Gabriella was seated, she could see everyone. East High worked the way every high school does. Everything was about social status, and the ones that were on top, wanted to remain on top so those at the bottom would never manage to overtake them. It was clearly evident in the way the whole school was seated. The popular kids sat with other popular people at the popular table and the kid called George was seated beside his group of equally nerdy friends. It was just the way things worked in high school.

Just as Gabriella was deep in thought, Aaron and Nick came back with a tray full of food. They placed the food on the table and from the looks of it, the food in East High was mediocre. It wasn't five-star restaurant food worthy but it didn't look like vomit either which Gabriella was extremely grateful for. Some schools just don't have enough budget to at least get decent food for their own students. Thankfully, East High wasn't one of them.

"Lunch is served!" Aaron announced. "So, little bro", Aaron looked at Nick, "you still want your vegetables?"

"Ha ha," Nick said sarcastically, "I thought you might do that so I made sure I got a lot of meat for myself." Nick was proud of his so-called achievement, which Gabriella didn't really understand. Her brothers were just so competitive.

"Smart."Aloysious commented, eating some chips.

"Hey," Aaron called Nick, "did you know there's basketball tryout?"

"No way!" Nick exclaimed, dropping the sandwich he was about to take a bite out of.

"But it's in the middle of the year, shouldn't tryouts be at the start of the year?" Gabriella cut in. Curiosity got the best of her.

"It is," Aloysious added, stuffing some more food into his mouth. Aaron and Aloysious had the same classes, so they knew everything the other twin knew. "But this try-out isn't exactly official. We managed to talk to Tyler who said that he could arrange a try-out for us since his dad is the coach of the team. Said if we were good enough, his dad will let us be on the team," Aloysious nodded his head, as if agreeing with himself.

"Tyler? As in Tyler Bolton?" Nick asked astonished, leaning his body towards the table.

"Yes! Keep up will you?" Aaron scolded, biting the tough piece of meat that he managed to cut. "Tyler, as in team captain and the oldest of the three Bolton brothers, the brothers whose father is the coach, Jack Bolton, that Tyler!"

"No shit? When's the tryout?" Nick asked excitedly.

"This Friday," both twins replied together. Aaron continued, "Tyler told us to get ready and be prepared. Their father is strict."

"Hell yeah, we'll be ready!" Nick pumped his fist in the air.

After that, the three Montez brothers talked about their basketball strategies and stuff so Gabriella tuned out. She was drinking a packet of Milo and she was deep in her thoughts once more. For some reason she started to think about whether there actually is a way for the nerds to climb to the top while not ditching their nerd image. She thought long and hard and she felt the urge to return back to the topic when she tried to think of other things to get her mind off. It was an intriguing thing to think about.

It was only after a long time that she realized she had been staring at a pair of jeans for a long time. She noticed that that pair of jeans looked familiar for some reason. She looked up to see that that pair of jeans belonged to none other than Troy Bolton.

Well technically, all Gabriella saw was his side profile. However, looking at that sandy brown hair, it was impossible to not recognize him. He had taken off his white team jacket and put it beside him, which left him in his black shirt and jeans which in Gabriella's opinion, looked pretty good on him. He was leaning back even though there's no support behind him but that was because there was a cheerleader sitting on his lap.

Gabriella knew exactly who that cheerleader was, she probably even made that cheerleader pissed at her. Judging from the way she was giggled and her long blond hair that was tied into a high ponytail, it could only be Kayla from biology class.

Kayla was sitting sideways on Troy's lap, her back towards Gabriella, and both her arms were wrapped around Troy's neck loosely. He in return placed one hand at her waist trying to support her while the other was supporting himself on the bench. He smiled up at her and she giggled at something he said before. As Gabriella watched from her seat, she saw Kayla lean down to give Troy a kiss first on the cheek and then a long kiss on his lips. Gabriella notice that Troy did not even lean in or move from his position and it looked like he was just trying to please her. Either way, it was awkward for Gabriella to watch that scene unfold but she just couldn't turn away. It was like her eyes were glued to them.

After that, Kayla got off Troy's lap and she walked towards the cafeteria doors, where she waved goodbye to Troy. Troy returned with a smile and as soon as she was out the doors, he hung his head down, looking as if he was examining his shoes. His smile slowly faded and he looked like he was thinking hard about something. Gabriella remained watching and after awhile Troy's head lifted to look straight at her. It was a shock to Gabriella that he knew exactly where she was, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but she wasn't surprised for reasons unknown to herself. It was almost like she expected it. Gabriella subconsciously took a deep breath as Troy smiled at her. Usually by now, she would have turned away or pretended she wasn't looking but something kept her staring at him, unable to tear her eyes away.

It was only a short moment later that their connection was broken.

"Gabi, you still want to eat?" Nick questioned.

Gabriella shook her head and gestured towards the food, "Help yourselves."

Gabriella watched as her three brothers all went for the food. She knew Troy was still watching. She could feel it. However, this time, she didn't look up. As soon as her brothers were done, all four siblings got up, disposed of the trays and its contents and left the cafeteria. Throughout the whole thing, Gabriella knew she was still being watched, only when she left the cafeteria did the burning in her head stop.

None of Montez siblings actually got a chance to see their lockers so all of them went in search of their lockers. Luckily, their lockers were all beside each other which made things a whole lot easier for them. They unlocked their lockers with the locker combination that they were given along with their schedule before chucking all the books that weren't needed inside.

Once again, they split up and Gabriella made it for her Physics class just in time as the bell signaling the end of free period rang. Her Physics class was not far from her lockers and this time, she learnt her lesson and asked the passing students for directions. Although it was a little embarrassing for her, it was better than being late.

As she stepped into the class, there was only one seat left. It was again at the back of the class, this time with a girl she didn't recognize. She walked to the back of the class but she couldn't help but notice that Troy was in this class too. He was sitting beside another boy whose skin tone was rather dark. Gabriella saw that there weren't as many cheerleaders in this class as other subjects before most probably because physics was a subject that required more brains. That meant less people crowding around the basketball boy Troy. Gabriella walked past him heading to the empty seat and she could almost swear that she saw Troy looking from the corner of his eyes at her.

"Hello," Gabriella greeted the girl beside the only empty seat, "I'm Gabriella Montez. May I sit here?"

"Of course," the girl replied, holding out her hand, "I'm Taylor. Taylor McKessie."Gabriella shook her hand and quickly said thank you to Taylor.

"You're new here right?" Taylor enquired. Gabriella nodded, placing her books on the table. "Just so you know, I do have friends, but most of them have different classes from me. The teacher also prefers me to sit alone because she doesn't want anyone to copy my answers."

"Why does that sound so familiar?" Gabriella thought out loud.

"You know Sharpay right? She's like, my best friend here at East High. Sometimes we influence each other even though we ourselves don't know it. She talked about you just now. You're the girl who sat with Troy Bolton in biology and made Kayla angry?"

"Yeah, not exactly proud of that though," Gabriella answered honestly. Taylor laughed and shook her head as if she couldn't believe Gabriella.

The physics teacher walked in just then, announcing her arrival with the sound of her heels against the floor. She hastily greeted everyone and immediately noticed the new addition to the class.

"Who are you?" the teacher, Ms. Helen, asked in a harsh tone. She was not one for nonsense.

"I'm Gabriella Montez. I'm new."

Ms. Helen took one long look at Gabriella that made her squirm in her seat. It didn't help when she knew that the whole class was staring yet again. Finally, Ms. Helen's eyes released its hold on Gabriella and looked through a set of papers.

"Gabriella Anne Montez?" Ms. Helen read. Gabriella nodded, but seeing as Ms. Helen was looking down at the papers, she spoke, "Yes."

Ms. Helen looked up and her eyes bore into Gabriella's. "Straight 'A's in Physics and you won first runner up in the National Physics Competition last year?"

Gabriella wanted to groan. Why did all the teachers find the need to announce everything? However, knowing she would probably get in trouble for that, she just nodded meekly.

"I'm impressed." Ms. Helen said after a moment of silence. "You can stay at your seat beside Taylor. Let's just see who ends up copying whom."

Gabriella thought that Taylor was lying when she said that Ms. Helen wanted her to seat alone because she didn't want people copying Taylor's answers. She was getting terrified of this woman.

Ms. Helen then walked briskly to her desk and took out a stack of papers and began writing on the whiteboard. Gabriella took the opportunities to talk to Taylor.

"She scares me," Gabriella confessed, "Is she always like this?"

Taylor struggled with her response. "Sometimes I guess…I mean…Occasionally she does laugh with us…But then…She does go into her mood swings at times…" Gabriella looked at the back of her physics teacher and tried to imagine Ms. Helen laughing with students or being more strict than she already is, both seemed rather impossible.

"But to answer your question, yes, she's usually more or less like this," Taylor concluded.

Ms. Helen chose that moment to turn her head. "Start copying," she ordered.

There was no more talking between me and Taylor after that. There was no talking, period. The class was silent except for the sound of pens scratching against paper. Physics lesson ended just as the bell rang and students began to file out.

"What's your next lesson?" Taylor asked as we were walking out the door.

"History, PE, then Chemistry," Gabriella read out her schedule for the rest of the day.

"Well, looks like I'll see you in PE and Chemistry then," Taylor said warmly. She started to turn away but it suddenly hit Gabriella that she didn't know where her next class was.

"Wait!" Gabriella shouted. Taylor turned with a curious expression on her face. "Do you know where the history class is?"Gabriella bit her lip as she asked.

"Down the hall, second last class on the right."

"Thanks," Gabriella mumbled and started down the hallway.

History class was surprisingly interesting. The teacher was so graphic about the subject that Gabriella could almost imagine it coming to life. The weirdest thing was, the teacher was only talking about the syllabus and not the actual content. The way he described the things they were going to learn only made Gabriella more excited for the subject itself. She could tell that most students too were interested in the subject and it felt too soon when the bell rang.

PE was boring to say the least. Since it was the first lesson of the semester, there was no actual physical activity involved. The teacher just basically split the boys and the girls and went through the rules of what to take note of during lessons like safety precautions and such.

Gabriella sat beside Sharpay and Taylor, who had geography together the period before and literature together the period before lunch. She also found out that at East High, due to a lack of PE teachers, everyone of a certain age group has PE together. That means, all freshmen go for PE together, all sophomores go for PE together and so on. That means that everyone Gabriella had met previously in her classes were all in her PE class as well.

Gabriella yawned a few times and almost fell asleep once or twice on Sharpay's shoulder. PE ended not soon enough and everyone changed out of their exercise clothes in their respective changing rooms. Finally everyone left the gym for their last class of the day.

Gabriella sat with Taylor once again for chemistry lesson. Taylor was the only person she knew in that particular class. Gabriella felt guilty in a way to Sharpay and Taylor for forcing them to sit with her almost every lesson even though they say they don't mind. Chemistry lesson passed fairly quickly and the first day of school was over before Gabriella even knew it.

Gabriella met her brothers outside school and all four walked home together. It wasn't that far of a walk. It took about fifteen to twenty minutes to walk back home from school. Throughout the walk home, Gabriella talked with her brothers about their first days at East High and laughed along when they said something funny. They observed that there was a park along the way and promised that they would go explore it together with Damon soon. To her, they were probably the best brothers anyone could ever ask for.

At the end of the day, Gabriella was dead beat. She had taken a bath as soon as she reached home and then watched her brothers begin their basketball training for the tryout that Friday. Damon joined in once he found out and they played until it was evening. At a point in time, they actually took off their shirts and Gabriella could see their muscled body in full view.

Even though it was probably disturbing to talk about her own brothers that way, she had to admit that they were good looking, if she were to look from an outsider's point of view of course. They had no lack of suitors, which was why Jo was with Damon. The twins rather not be tied down, so they have not got girlfriends, but they do make out with girls at times. They once joked that they would only date if they found hot twin girls although Gabriella is not very sure if they were serious. Nick prefers serious relationships and he had only one so far. They broke up after a couple of months and Nick has not even kissed a girl since then.

After watching the boys turn their basketball match into a game of wrestling for the ball, it quickly became darker. Their mother had already reached home and she ordered her four boys to take a shower before dinner as she did not want their sweat soiling their new furniture. They made use of their two toilets and after half an hour, everyone was ready for dinner. The Montez family ate the dinner that their mother had prepared and watched a couple of movies that Aaron and Aloysious had chosen as a family before heading for an early rest.

Gabriella was incredibly exhausted by then. Her eyelids were so heavy and she couldn't even remember the movie at all. She walked up the steps with heavy footsteps and slumped into her room. She collapsed in her bed and was knocked out as soon as her head hit her pillows.