Gabriella went through the rest of her day and was so excited it was over, she almost forgot about her detention from that morning. She was on her way out the door when she literally bumped into Ryan and spilt the contents of her bag all over the floor.

Gabriella groaned and sank to the ground and began to stuff everything back inside. Ryan knelt down next to her and handed her some of her books.

"Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay, I wasn't paying attention!" She replied quickly.

"Why were you going so fast? It's just detention!" Ryan asked, helping her to her feet.

Gabriella closed her eyes, "Shoot! I forgot about detention!" She sighed heavily.

"Here, let me get my stuff then we can walk there together." Ryan offered and without waiting for a response, went to his locker, switched his books then walked back up to her. He led her to the auditorium and up the steps.

She paused in the center of the stage and looked out at the audience.

"I know," Ryan said suddenly, "There's nothing quite like looking out from the stage."

She grinned at him, "I've never really done it before." She confessed and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Really? It looks like you belong right there to me." Then he winked and walked into the back room.

Gabriella was assigned to paint the moon while Ryan was assigned the ladder with Sharpay. Gabriella narrowed her eyes at the two of them, 'No one told me she had a boyfriend! This is going to make things a lot harder…'

Gabriella sighed again when suddenly a young woman rushed up to her brandishing some papers. "The answer is yes!" She exclaimed at her.

Gabriella stared at her confusedly. "…And there is certainly a spot for you!"

'Scholastic Decathlon Team?!'

"Where did you get those?" She asked, looking at the papers and seeing herself.

"Didn't you put them in my locker?"

"Of course not!"

Suddenly, Sharpay strutted up, "What a perfect way to get caught up, meeting with the smartest kids in school! What a generous offer, Taylor!"

'Oh! Taylor! I guess she's an intellectual…'

Ms. Darbus walked by and broke them all up then began to rant about cell phones. After endless hours, (or was it days?) detention ended.

Gabriella walked outside then walked home. Her mother was in the kitchen chopping vegetables so she ran up the stairs into her large room and flopped down on the bed.

"Gabriella?" Her mother yelled up the stairs.

"What?"

"Could you take the trash out, please?" Gabriella groaned but ran down the stairs and took the outstretched bag then rushed outside and put it in the barrel.

The only other person on the street was a runner, moving quickly towards her. She stepped back and saw that it was Ryan!

He was just passing her when he saw her and he slowly stopped, "Hey Gabriella!"

"Ryan! You run?" She asked incredulously.

Ryan smiled embarrassedly, "Yeah, I run track."

"Oh! You didn't seem like the sports boy to me."

"Track's the only thing I do, unless dancing counts and some baseball." He wiped some sweat from his brow.

"You dance?"

Ryan nodded and blushed a little, "I figured you know by now. I mean, you've met Sharpay and you know what she's like."

"Yeah, she's un, interesting?"

"It's okay, she's a bitch but you gotta love her." Gabriella was trying to figure out why it felt like there was a balloon deflating in her throat but she nodded and attempted a smile.

"She's never been one to run the welcome committee."

"Apparently that's Troy's job."

Was that a flicker of annoyance on his face? But whatever it was, disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

"Only if it's for pretty brunettes. I should keep going; maybe I'll see you tomorrow." Gabriella realized he had complimented her and turned bright pink.

"Right, see you…" She trailed off and seemingly floated back into the house. She brushed past her mother and thumped up the stairs.

She pulled out her notebook and made some changes:

Operation We're All in This Together Day One:

Jocks:

Troy Bolton

Ryan?

Thespians:

Sharpay Evans

Brainiacs:

Taylor ?

Gabriella Montez

The next morning, Gabriella walked into school extra early to find out as much about her specimens as she could. She began to flip through some yearbooks and saw that Taylor (Last name McKessie) was definitely a smart girl.

Sharpay was the drama queen for sure; she was in every single picture involving the drama club.

Ryan was in a lot of pictures with her too and Gabriella felt disappointment bubbling inside her. She looked for him in the sports section and found that he was the captain of the track team and was on the baseball team.

Troy's the captain of basketball and baseball.

Chad was on every sports team.

How? That's impossible to be on two teams during one season!

Gabriella rolled her eyes and continued to flip towards the class pictures but the bell rang to start school. Gabriella sighed and shoved the yearbooks back on the shelf then ran to homeroom just in time.

Ryan and Sharpay had on complimenting outfits to each other and Gabriella averted her eyes then sat down in her seat. Both Ryan and Troy turned and looked at her and grinned.

She gave Troy a small smile, hoping he took it in a friendly way then smiled at Ryan.

Ryan mouthed 'hi' at her and she mouthed hello back then he turned around and began to pay attention to Ms. Darbus.

Gabriella smiled to herself and stared at the back of all of the unsuspecting student's heads, 'Let the games begin, chickies.'

Hey! Sorry if this is a little random but I'm trying to slowly build this all up! Don't worry, she's going to find out Ryan's related to Sharpay in the next chapter (hopefully). Are there any moments from the movie or something that you want me to add? If so, let me know in a PM or review! Thank you for all of the reviews! I love them so please keep them coming! Check out my other stories and Angel of the Starz stories! XOXO