Beep. Beep. Beep. Ugh. I slammed my hand on the snooze button thinking why on earth am I up at 7:30 am during the summer holidays. Oh right! Work. Not that I'm complaining, I just don't like the waking up early part of having a job. Evelynn wanted me to come in early so she could train me without the café being so busy. I eventually got out of bed and went into the shower. After I was ready for work, I looked in the mirror one last time before going downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Good morning Gabs!" Blake said to me while checking his phone for messages and emails.

"Morning B!" I said while grabbing some eggs and pancakes mom made before she went to work. "Why are you up so early? It's not like you have work."

"I'm going to the gym with Josh!" He said taking a sip of his water. "And I hear you met his younger brother when you guys went to a party the other night."

"Yeah I did. It was fun!"

"Did you drink at the party?"

"Uhh..no" I said while eating my eggs. "I didn't want to risk being drunk and do stupid stuff. Especially since I'm new around here. I don't need to start off the year with people knowing what I did drunk"

"That's my sister. Always so smart." Blake replied while washing the dishes for both of us. "Hey, I have to leave for New York in a few days. I have my school stuff to get ready and you start school pretty soon too."

"Ugh. Don't even remind me. You should just transfer here to U of A, and then we can see each other every day." I suggested jokingly.

"Yeah, nice try sis."

"Well, I tried! Anyways I have to get to work. I'll see you when I'm off." I said while walking out of the door.

I got into my white lancer and drove off to work. When I arrived, it was about 9am the café had just opened. I walked in and noticed Troy was working. I immediately got excited since I get to work with him today! As I was walking in, I was trying to find Evelynn. It didn't seem like she was around. While I was looking, Troy walked up to me. And might I add he looks fine in those light washed Abercrombie and Fitch jeans and a grey tee-shirt.

"Hey Gabriella, I'll be training you today. Evelynn had an emergency meeting so she can't make it today and asked me to train you." He said while I followed him into the working area. "And don't worry, you're in good hands!" He reassured.

"Well Troy, I'm not so sure about that." I said jokingly.

"Funny, Gabriella." He said and I laughed.

*TROY'S POV*

I was just getting everything ready for the day and I heard the door open. I looked over and I see Gabriella in her dark washed jeans with black flats and a simple white tee-shirt with her curly hair in a ponytail. Gosh, she looks beautiful. Before I decided to say dream some more, I finally walked up to her to let her know that I would be training her. After a quick chat, we finally got to work. I showed her how to work the latte machine and how to make them and a bunch of other stuff. When customers came in, I let her make the drinks and work the till so she could have some practice. She's a quick learner which makes my job easier. As the day went by, it was finally our turn to call it a day. While grabbing out belongings, I went up to Gabriella to talk to her.

"Nice work today. You're a quick learner."

"Thanks Troy! And it helps when you have a great trainer."

"Well thank you." I said while grabbing my phone. "So, since next weekend is the last weekend of freedom and summer, there is a party. And it's for us seniors only! Did you want to join us?"

"Um.." She said before I interrupted her.

"I promise I won't puke this time or leave you!" I said jokingly.

Before Gabriella said anything, she laughed at my comment. "Sure Troy. I'll come along!"

"Awesome! The whole group is meeting at my place around 9pm for pre-drinks."

"I'll be there." She said while walking out the door with him.

"What are you doing now?" I asked while we walked to our cars.

Before replying I looked at my watch and noticed it was about 5:30. Talk about an 8.5 hour shift that went by quickly. "Probably get some dinner and then a nice run. Not much to do when you're new and don't know anyone." She shrugged.

"Well, you know me and the group."

"Technically, I just know you. I've only meet your friends once. I doubt they remember me except for that girl named Taylor I think."

"Of course they remember you! But Zeke's having his annual back to school barbeque that's just for the group and our families. If you're up to it, it would be great if you and your family wanted to join us." I suggested hoping to spend more time with Gabriella."

"That would be fun. Alright I'll join you guys. But can I go home and change first? My clothes smell like coffee." She asked while laughing. Her laugh is so contagious. I don't think I'll get sick of it anytime soon!

"Of course you can. I need to anyways as well. And after we change, I can drive both of us to Zeke's and my parents and your parents can go together. I'm going to assume Blake and Chad's brother are already hanging out so he's most likely there already."

"That would be awesome. Thanks Troy! I'll text you when I'm ready, I'll be about 20 minutes." She said before got into her car and drove away.

Soon when I got home, I quickly asked if my parents could drive Gabriella's parents to Zeke's and of course they happily accepted and my mom called Gabriella's mom right away. I went up to my room to get out of my coffee smell clothes and put on a pair of dark Hollister jeans and a while Armani half sleeve since our summer nights were starting to get a bit cooler. Once I finished getting dressed, I received a text from Gabriella saying she was ready. I told her to come over as I was almost done. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. I put on some Armani cologne before heading downstairs.

"Hey Gabriella, Maria, Greg." I said while letting them in. They all said hi back. My parents came into the foyer as well to greet them. As we did a small chat, we decided to leave for Zeke's. Gabriella and I got into my Audi R8 while the parents got into my parents Escalade.

"Are you excited?" I asked Gabriella and taking in her beauty. She wore a dark pair of jeans paired with a white and silver half sleeve top.

"Yeah. Mainly because I know when we start school, I'll have some friends." She laughed.

"Well, even if you didn't have friends on your first, knowing you, you would probably make friends easily." I said while giving her a smile.

"Thank you Troy! You're so nice, at times."

"I am a nice person!" I shot back jokingly. We both laughed at this. Soon we arrived at Zeke's place. After parking our cars, we went to Zeke's backyard and everyone was there. My mom introduced Gabriella and her parents to the other parents.

"Yo hoops!" Chad yelled with his mouth full of food.

"Dude, wanna not talk with your mouth full?"

"Troy, let's face it, if he didn't learn from when he was a kid, what makes you think he'll learn now?" My dad said to me. I laughed and agreed with him.

"Whatever guys! Let's play some ball man!" Chad said while throwing the ball to me.

"Where's Sharpay?" I asked looking at Ryan.

"She's said she was going to be fashionably late. Her hair wasn't curling so she freaked out." Ryan said while rolling his eyes. I, ask well rolled my eyes.

"Of course her hair was curling." I said sarcastically while taking shooting the ball. About 20 minutes later. We hear a loud voice in the yard.

"I'm here!" We all looked to find it was Sharpay. Ever since she was little, that girl always needed to make an entrance!

"Do you have to make a dramatic entrance." Jason said while taking a sip of his beer.

"Uh Jason, when you're going to be fashionably late, of course there's a need for an entrance.

"Okay Sharpay, that's enough. Now both you and Ryan come over here! We have a new addition to our group." Chad said

"This is Gabriella and her brother Blake. Gabriella, Blake, this is Sharpay and Ryan. They are both twins and always the main lead in the school's musical." I said while spinning the ball on my finger. They all shook each other's hands and talked for a bit. Soon we all sat together at a big table and started to eat our dinner. After we ate, I decided to play some basketball with the guys while the girls and parent's talked in their own group.

*GABRIELLA'S POV*

"So Gabriella, your brother Blake." I immediately knew where this was going. So before letting Sharpay go on, I interrupted her.

"Is taken. Him and his girlfriend have been together for a year and a half now. Nice try Sharpay." I said while smirking at her.

"How did you even know she was going to ask?" Kelsi asked.

"Because back in New York, when my friends met Blake, they thought he was the hottest guy they have ever seen."

"Well, I can tell why." Sharpay shot back. I laughed at Sharpay's comment. Everytime I met someone knew, especially if it was a girl and they met my brother, they always mentioned something about his good looks.

"Sharpay, you're dating Zeke. I think you'll be fine that you won't be dating Blake anytime soon." Taylor shot back while the group started laughing.

As we started talking, the guys came and joined us, with Troy sitting beside me might I add. And damn, he smells so good! God, he's so attractive. I basically had to contain my excitement! Soon after, the parents ended up joining us. During this talk, I learned a lot of the group. I learned that Chad and Troy have been best friends since pre-school. And everyone else started meeting each other once they entered elementary and stayed friends since then. I also learned that everyone in the group except for Ryan and Kelsi was very active. Sharpay and Taylor play volleyball and have been playing together since middle school. Chad, Zeke, Jason and Troy all have been playing basketball together since middle school as well. Apart from playing together, some of them do their own sports. But the coolest thing was that everyone in the group does cross country. However, they never competed in the meets. I learned it was only Troy who does and everyone else does it to get back into shape.

"Why don't you guys compete in the meets this year? It's senior year, gotta go all out. And the meets aren't that bad!" Troy asked while taking a drink from his vodka based drink.

"Yeah, says you Mr-who-placed-7th-overrall in the state championships." Chad shot back at Troy.

"Well, what can I say. 7th is pretty sick!" He replied cockily

"Stop being so cocky you ass!" Zeke said while rolling his eyes. That's another thing I learned tonight. Troy can be very cocky. From his cockiness, I learned he won many awards from his sports. As the night went on, we all continued talking and soon we realized it was about 2:30am and decided it was time to call it a night.

We the days went on, I continued working at the diner and Troy and I were becoming closer and closer. Along with the group too. They came frequently to the diner visiting us while we were at work and waited till we were done work to hang out. Soon, a week passed by and Blake had already left for New York to get ready to go back to school and spend some time with his girlfriend. I already missed the guy, but I only have to wait till Thanksgiving to see him again. Since it was the last weekend of summer, it mean the party that was just for seniors was tonight too!

After I finished work at 7, I went back home to shower and get ready for the party. Sharpay and Taylor soon came over as well to get ready with me. Around 8:30, we were finished getting ready and decided have something to eat before we went to Troy's. So we to my kitchen and I pulled out some leftovers from today's dinner with my family. After eating, we headed over to Troy's for pre-drinks.

"Hey Brie!" He said while pulling me to a hug.

"Brie?" I asked

"Well, Gabriella can be kind of long. So I decided to call you Brie, if you don't mind." He asked nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Of course I don't mind." I said while smiling. We continued doing more pre-drinks and I was sure Sharpay was done by now. I was told it doesn't take much for her to be drunk. We soon headed to a house that was about 15 minutes outside of Albuquerque. When we arrived the party was in full swing already with teens making out, dancing and puking. I went with Taylor to grab some drinks for ourselves. Seems like all they drink here are beers. I found some vodka. So I decided to mix it with some 7up. It was better than the beers they offered. After grabbing our drinks, we went and found Chad and everyone else.

"What's this?" Troy asked and grabbed my red cup and took a drink out of it. "Vodka and 7up? Why no beers? You had one last time."

"Troy, I only drink beers when necessary. I'm from New York. Do I look like I drink beers?" I asked while laughing. While we were talking, a blonde girl came up to Troy, the same blonde that was talking to Troy at the last party.

"Troy!" She said in a whiney voice.

"Hey Megan." He said taking a sip of his beer. "Have you met Gabriella yet? She's new."

"Oh, hi." She said giving me a dirty look.

"Hey. Nice to meet you." She just looked at me and then continued to flirt with Troy some more. As she was talking, I slipped from Troy's side and walked away. While walking away Sharpay, Taylor and Chad came up to me.

"Hey, don't worry about Megan okay? She's just a bitch and wants Troy but Troy doesn't want her." Chad said to me.

"And let's face it, she hates anyone who gets to hang around Troy. So basically she hates all of us." Sharpay said, more like slurred. "She's such a bitch. I don't understand how anyone can stand her."

"Uh…try being on the soccer team with her. It sucks that we both have to share captain. Fucking pisses me off." Taylor said.

"She plays soccer? She just looks like she banged half of the schools population." I know I shouldn't be saying anything rude about her, but when you get on my bad side, you better sleep with your eyes open.

"Oh, she has. Only 'cause half the guys at East are stupid. Only Troy is the smart one and does his best to stay away from her. But I think he's a bit too drunk right now." Chad said while pointing over at Troy who is making out with Megan. At this point, jealousy was getting to me. But I couldn't understand why. We had just met this summer.

"Hey, it's okay." Taylor said trying to cheer me up.

"What? It's fine. Nothing is wrong."

"Yes, something is wrong. I can see it in your eyes. You're starting to fall for him."

"No. I am not."

"It's okay if you are. He's a nice guy. But I will warn you of this. Troy has had his fair share of one night fucks with the East high girls, especially the soccer team." After Taylor said this to me, I got a whole new perspective on Troy. Was he a player? He could be for all I know! I have to admit, it's like I got stabbed in the stomache. Maybe I was falling for him after all. After seeing the situation with Troy, my mood instantly went down and I wanted to go home. But Taylor convinced me to stay.

*TROY'S POV*

I have to admit, if it weren't for Chad pulling me away from Megan, I would have fucked her. That's how drunk I am now. In all of high school, my main goal was to not hook up with Megan. Yes, she has been trying to get with me since high school started, but let's face it, the girl is a slut. I'm no different since I have hooked up with girls from east too, but it wasn't half the population. Maybe just a quarter, okay that sounds pretty bad.

"Yo, where's Gabs?" I asked Chad drunk.

"Over there" Chad pointed "talking with – "

"Is that Haiste she's talking with?" I asked feeling the anger boil up in me. "What the fuck is West doing here? This is an East party only!"

"Troy, stop, don't make a scene." Chad said trying to calm me down.

"Too fucking late." I said making my way over to Kyler who was talking to Gabriella.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" I asked pulling him away from Gabriella.

"What does it look like, Bolton?" He smirked at me. "We're crashing this hell hole of a party. But before I could do anymore damage, I saw this pretty lady over here." He said referring to Gabriella.

"You" I said while grabbing his shirt. "stay the hell away from her!"

"Why Bolton, is she your new toy to fuck with?" At this point, I lost it. No one talks about Gabriella like that! We soon ended up in a fight. Soon, only to be stopped by Chad.

"Dude, calm the fuck down. He's not worth it." Chad said while glaring at Kyler

"Fine. C'mon Brie!" I said trying to calm down.

Once Kyler and his West high gang left, I turned to Gabriella to ask her a question.

"Why the fuck were you talking to Kyler Haiste?"

It took her a minute to reply back to me since she was a bit startled by my attitude.

"Look, Brie I'm sorry. It's just Haiste is the captain of West High's basketball team and West is our biggest rival."

"Troy, we were just talking. Nothing happened. He came up to me since I was at the gym a couple weeks ago and he saw me there."

"Look" I sighed, "just be careful."

"Thank you though, you know, for what you did back there."

"No worries." I said before pulling her into a hug. "Just looking out for you!" Why was I standing up for a girl that I had just met this summer? I don't understand. But each time I was around her, something was different. It's that feeling you get in your stomach. I can't help but feel them every time.

*GABRIELLA'S POV*

After the party, the rest of the weekend went by so quickly. Now, it is the first day of senior year. My first day at a new school. Even though I already have met new friends, I'm still nervous. Once my alarm rang, I got up, took a shower. Once I finished getting ready, I went downstairs to my mom having breakfast set out on the counter for me to eat. Before I left the house, I looked at myself in the mirror. Once I was satisfied in my dark blue True Religion jeans, a Guess coral coloured shirt with a long silver necklace and black TOMS I left my house and to my black Infiniti. Yes, I know I had a white lancer before, but something went wrong with that car, so we had to get me a new one.

Once I arrived at school, I went to the office and grabbed my schedule and everything I needed. As I was looking at my schedule, I bumped into someone. I looked up to see it was Troy who I bumped into.

"Hey Brie!" He said giving me a hug

"Hey!"

"Is that your class schedule?"

"Yeah, just trying to figure out where everything is."

"Here, let me take a look." He grabbed my schedule and took a look at it. "Looks like we have some classes together. We have gym, chemistry, English and free period."

"Awesome! You can show me around so I don't look like a loser." I said laughing.

"You won't! But, yes, I'll show you around! Except you have history first and I'm not in that class this semester." Just as Troy finished his sentence, I heard a voice who I could recognize right away calling Troy.

"Hi Troy! Do we have any classes together?" Megan asked while getting close with Troy. I could see in Troy's eyes he wasn't very comfortable with it.

"Uh.." He said while rubbing the back of his neck and looking at her schedule, "no we don't, but you do have history first with Brie here! So you can show her where the class is."

Before Megan said anything, she just looked at me rudely. "Fine. I'll show her." With that I said bye to Troy and that I would see him in gym next period.

"Look, just because I'm showing you where the class is doesn't mean we're going to be friends!" Megan said while stopping me rudely.

"I'm sorry?" I said not knowing what to say.

"I don't care if you're new around here, but just keep this in mind."

Before she said anything more, she continued glaring at me and if looks could kill, I would be dead by now.

"Troy Bolton is mine. He always has been and always will."

What up guys! So sorry. I was planning on writing lots during the summer, but I was basically travelling the whole time and when I got back, I started university right away. Let's just say with midterms and finals, I was very busy. SO much work! But it was worth it though! :) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a boring chapter. But I was just writing since I had no idea what to write. So if you guys have any good ideas to make the story more interesting, please feel free to PM me! Thanks guys!