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Chapter 4: The Two Sides

That afternoon during free period, Gabriella was wandering the halls. As great as Chad was with helping her around, she could never seem to find him. It was odd. Now, she wished she had looked a little harder for him. Apparently, she was very lost, and the map that she had gotten that morning really didn't help at all.

She turned a corner, looking on the map to see if she was any closer to the library, which was where she was trying to go. When she looked up again, she had to take a step back in shock.

"Oh my…" she trailed off. She wasn't sure what to think about what she saw on the wall in front of her. It was a giant poster of what she noticed was the East High basketball team. All of the players were on there, but were gathered around the biggest, which was Troy.

"Same reaction as always." Gabriella heard someone mutter. She turned and saw two girls, standing on the other side of hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Tell me about it." The other girl replied.

"Pardon me?" Gabriella was confused by their comments. One of the girls, a smaller looking girl with glasses, looked up at her.

"Oh, well…" she obviously hadn't expected Gabriella to actually hear anything, and sounded nervous. No one usually heard their comments.

"That tends to be the usual reaction to him." Her friend finished for her.

"Reaction to who?" Gabriella was lost. The second girl nudged her head towards the poster, as if it was obvious. "Troy?" she asked.

The girls both nodded. "He has a school wide fan club." The girl with the glasses informed her.

With that, Gabriella couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Are you serious?" she asked, unable to believe them. But they both nodded, confirming the truth. Gabby stopped laughing. "So that's why I got all of the glares in cafeteria." She figured it out.

"Glares?" one of the girls asked.

Her friend didn't look quite as confused. "You must be the girl everyone was freaking out about because you hugged him at lunch." she thought aloud.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that was a mistake. I had no idea…" Gabby sighed. "Anyways, I'd better find the library, I've got catching up to." She told the two girls.

"Hold on." One of the girls stopped her.. "You don't like Troy Bolton?"

Gabriella let out a little giggle. "No." she calmed herself down. "No way." She informed them. "We're...old friends." she added.

"Well then. We were wrong about you." The girl said. "I'm Taylor, and this is Kelsi." She introduced herself and the other girl.

Gabriella was a little confused. "Gabriella." She responded politely. "What do you mean you were wrong about me?" she asked.

Taylor and Kelsi looked at each other. Obviously this girl didn't know how East high worked. "You're so new it's not even funny." Taylor shook her head.

"Don't worry, you'll understand everything soon enough." Kelsi assured her.

This was beginning to frustrate Gabriella. She had been told that same thing twice now. "What is it exactly that I have to understand?" she asked, wanting to know.

Taylor smiled. "Okay Gabriella, you seem like a nice girl so I'm going to help you out here." She said, beginning to make her way down the hall, Kelsi right beside her. Gabriella had no choice but to follow.

"Okay…" Gabby waited.

Taylor took a deep breath. "Troy Bolton is…"

"Are you trash talking my friend again McKessie?" a voice interrupted her. The three girls turned around and saw that Chad and Troy himself were standing behind them.

"No. But it's adorable how you always seem to protect him." Taylor shot back smoothly.

Chad ignored that comment and looked over at the girl beside her. "Hey Gabriella, how's it going?" he asked her happily.

Gabby was completely caught between the two guys and two girls. "Um…" she started.

"Are Taylor and Kelsi bugging you?" he asked.

"Well…" she started.

"Of course we aren't Danforth." Taylor didn't let her say anything.

"Really, what makes you think that?" Chad asked with a smirk.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Because we can at lest provide stimulating conversation, unlike some certain lunk-head basketball players I know of." She told him.

"Um…" Gabriella tried to interject with little success.

"Wow, that hurts." Chad put a hand to his heart in mock pain.

"Yeah, well it should." Taylor seemed satisfied.

Chad was about to come back with something when their two friends seemed to decide that it had gone far enough. "Guys, shut up!" Troy and Kelsi both yelled. Everyone fell silent.

"This school is so weird." Gabriella came to a conclusion, before deciding to just get away so that she could think. "I'll see you guys later."

"Good job Chad, you scared her off." Taylor instantly started at it again when she had disappeared.

"I scared her off?" Chad gave a little laugh. "I think you're mistaken there."

While their friends argued, Troy sighed and leaned against the wall, not bothering to try and stop Chad again. Kelsi did the same, opening the book she had been holding under her arm and beginning to read.

This would last a while.