Gabriella learned the next day that things weren't going to be as easy as she thought. It all started the next day when she heard a blood curdling scream. Gabriella peaked out from the science room she was in and saw Sharpay and Ryan reading the callback sheet and freaking out.

Gabriella winced and sidled back to her seat next to Taylor, who had been working on her science homework.

"What's her deal now?" She asked, obviously bored.

"Uh, I guess she just found out that…Troy and I have a callback…" She mumbled, staring at the floor.

"You and Troy what?!" Taylor barked, leaping to her feet and staring wide-eyed at Gabriella.

"We kind of auditioned yesterday and now we have a callback…" Gabriella was getting pissed that Taylor thought this was so hard to believe.

"You know, I have to go. I want to change my books before lunch." Then she stormed off to her locker and leaned back against it.

Meanwhile, the cafeteria was in disarray. People were confessing their secret loves and everyone was singing. Sharpay was pacing back and forth, at her spot above everyone else.

In Ryan's opinion, she kind of looked like an over-protective lioness.

"This is not what I want, this is not what I planned, and I just gotta say, I do not understand!" She sang to him.

"Something is really-"

"Something's not right!" Ryan agreed but she cut him off, "Really wrong and we gotta get things back where they belong! We can do it, we can do it, we can do it!"

Everyone began singing over them and Sharpay glared at them, "Everybody quiet!" She shouted.

It just so happened that Gabriella finally decided she was calm enough to go to lunch with Taylor and they walked in just as everyone went silent.

They all seemed to be looking at Taylor and Gabriella furrowed her brow, "Why's everybody staring at you?" She asked, looking around at everyone.

"Not me, you." Taylor shrugged.

Gabriella gasped, "Because of the callbacks?!" She felt nerves flutter into her stomach, "I can't have people staring at me, I really can't!" She pressed her eyes closed and tried to calm down while everyone began to sing and dance again.

Ryan felt obligated to follow Sharpay as she flounced down the stairs, even though he was staring at Gabriella. The poor brunette girl was practically being harassed as she tried desperately to get through the throng of people.

She slipped on some milk and her food flew into the air. Ryan watched in rapture then realized its target and began to pray, 'Please don't land on her, please don't, anything but that…'

But to no avail, the cheese fries landed smack in the center of Sharpay's collar bone. Everyone stopped again while Sharpay stared at her ruined shirt then screamed again.

After that, everything blurred together for Gabriella. Sharpay improved a total lie to Ms. Darbus then stormed off. Ryan shrugged and followed his sister. Troy was dragged away by Chad. And she, herself, was led to a table by Taylor.

Gabriella returned to her locker again only to have a paper fall on her head. "Okay, what is with this school?! Random musical numbers, strange notes attacking people, overly dramatic students?! What next, a dancing dinosaur?!"

She groaned and opened the note. It was a map that leads to some balcony. She debated going or not and decided if curiosity was only strong enough to kill a cat, it certainly couldn't kill her.

She followed the instructions on the paper and only got lost twice until she found a beautiful garden over looking the entire campus. Troy was standing like the king of the castle so she quickly ran up to him.

"Wow, it's like a jungle up here!" she marveled, casting her eyes over the view and smiling.

"Yeah, just like that cafeteria." He teased.

Gabriella grimaced, "Where I just humiliated myself into the next century!"

Troy protested and she sorta lost track of the conversation, staring off into space.

"At my old school, I was known as the freaky genius girl! It's nice to come here and be whoever I want to be…When I was singing with you, I just felt like a…girl!" She improvised, since she hadn't really gone to a previous school and no one had called her anything.

"You even look like one too!" Gabriella forced herself to giggle at his ridiculous comment and he sat down next to her.

"So you really want to do the callbacks?"

"Hey, just call my freaky callback boy!" Gabriella had to smile at that,

"You're a cool guy, Troy, but not for the reasons your friends think." She admitted.

The bell rang ('I don't remember bells ringing so much when I went to school!') and ended their little moment in Troy's garden.

During free period, that afternoon, Gabriella curled up in her favorite spot, the very top nook of the library.

She pulled out her notebook and bit her lip. As she was thinking about what she had learned over the past day, she realized something. "Ryan is her brother! Not her boyfriend!" She threw her head back and laughed.

Someone cleared their throat and she turned around to see Ryan staring at her, looking half-bewildered, half-bemused.

"Who am I not dating?" He asked, sitting down across from her.

Gabriella blushed deeply, "Uh, Sharpay?" She giggled nervously.

Ryan burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, tears were in his eyes and his face was turning pink. Gabriella glared at him and hit him with her notebook.

He finally regained his composure, "Sharpay is my twin sister!" He choked out, clutching his side.

"How was I supposed to know that?!" She demanded, crossing her arms.

"You're right," He laughed, wiping his eyes, "You're right, I'm sorry." He was still grinning like an idiot and she narrowed her eyes and opened her notebook.

Ryan flipped open his text book and began to twirl a pen between his pale fingers as he read.

Gabriella kept one eye on him and the other on her notebook while she quickly jotted down:

Operation We're All in This Together Day One:

Jocks:

Troy Bolton

Ryan Evans

Chad ?

Thespians:

Sharpay Evans

Ryan Evans

Brainiacs:

Taylor ?

Gabriella Montez

"This English assignment will be the death of me," He groaned, "What are you working on?" He asked, peering over the top of her notebook.

She quickly slammed it shut, "Just reviewing notes for a history test," She made up. Ryan shrugged and helped her to her feet. "We should get going, it takes forever to get to drama from here so we have to leave before the bell."

They walked to class together and spent the rest of the day passing notes about everything from movies to teachers to socks.

That night, Mr. Daniels materialized in Gabriella's room. Gabriella, who had been painting her toe nails on her bed, jumped and screamed when he appeared, causing her to spill nail polish everywhere.

Mr. Daniels apologized while trying not to laugh and made the stain disappear.

"So, how are things going, young Rose?" He asked after everything had settled down again.

"Okay, I guess. I forgot how much I hated school though." She sighed, wrinkling her nose at her backpack.

He chortled, "Things can't be that bad, dear, they're only teenagers!"

"Only teenagers?!" Gabriella practically yelled then quickly lowered her voice so her mother wouldn't hear her, "They're like animals! They're territorial, superficial, cut throat, obnoxious and know-it-alls! I can't stand them!"

He stared at her as she rambled, a small smile gracing his wrinkled features. "And you feel that you're above them?"

"Well, at least I know what's important!" She defended.

"I think you'll find that if you look deep inside, you'll realize you're just like them. Don't let it get to you, keep the task on your mind and things won't seem as bad." Then he disappeared.

Gabriella pouted and laid back down, "I'm not like them, I'm not!" She insisted.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get his voice to stop echoing in her mind.

'Maybe being a teenager isn't so bad…' She thought as sleep finally overtook her.

Okay, there we go. I tried to make up for the last (pretty sucky) chapter by making this one longer with more substance. It adds to the tension between Gabriella and the school, starts the connection with Ryan, starts the small crush with Troy that will come in use later but don't worry, this is so Ryella. And Troypay for that matter! So, what do you think? Is this good, shall I continue? Any suggestions or requests? Oh and thank you so much for the reviews. I'd like more than that, but I appreciate any reviews so thank you! Hopefully, I'll update next week but forgive me if I don't! I have 28 more days of school so I have to focus on that and I have to start the prologue of WDCT2! Oh and for those who read WDCT, do you guys have any ideas for titles? I can't think of anything! Love you guys a hundred yellow starbursts!