a/n: okay, i was bored during spring break and went ahead and typed up this chapter so i'm going to post it anyway. however, i am still in search of a co-writer for the troy parts. if you are even remotely interested please let me know with an email x.xtwirlx.x at hotmail dot com. also please review after you read, the reviews make me happy!!


disclaimer: sadly i don't own high school musical, but i'd love to own zac. he'd make the best graduation present.

GABRIELLA

gabi didn't like the looks of east high when she first arrived. it looked like any other rick school, even if it was a so-called public school. it was probably why he mother choose it. as the principal showed her around, she noticed all the sports awards, mostly basketball, and all the posters of musical shows they've apparently put on over the years. they were impressive, but it still seemed a bit showy. and this girl was sick of showy. that's all her parents embodied. she couldn't believe that she had to get ready early for this. she hated when she had to cut her running time short. that was her "gabi time" and with her life those moments were her most cherished moments. so when they are cut short for some stupid school tour that wasn't making her like the school at all, it didn't make her happy. eventually the principal gave her a locker number and combination, her schedule, and a map to the school. sighing, she made her way to her locker to put her books into it. she was liking this full size locker action opposed to the half lockers her private school in manhattan had. she couldn't help but stare at the bright pink locker next to hers with the gold star on it. she wondered who this "sharpay evans" was. all she knew was she was due to be in her homeroom in about five minutes, and she wasn't sure where it frantically trying to follow the map, she finally found the room number that matched the one on her schedule. opening the door, gabriella noticed a bunch of students glance at her, however she was more interested in finding the teacher. she almost instantly spotted the blonde crazy dressed woman perched on a high back chair placed on a stage that took up the front half of the class.

"ms. darbus?" gabi asked uncertainly. "yes?" the blond teacher asked in return. "i'm new," she responded handing the ms. darbus her schedule. the teacher studied her schedule, and she swore the teacher beamed when she saw gabriella was signed up for drama. of course by the looks of the room, she would guess that ms. darbus was indeed the drama teacher. gabi flashed her a one hundred watt smile when darbus looked her oer. the young woman felt more than one person looking at her; however, she didn't look to see who it was. she doubted she knew them, and she doubted they knew her. she couldn't see albuquerque kids listening to new york underground pop music. eventually darbus smiled at her and said, "welcome to east high miss montez. class say hello to gabriella montez." this caused a monotone robotic "hello" to emit from the students. "why don't you tell us something about yourself miss montez?" gabriella half faced the class as she racked her brain for something to say, "i'm gabi montez. i moved here from new yourk city. i sing and dance and i love school…and that's about it." just as she trailed off her eyes connected with the same ocean blue ones that had caught her attention the day she moved in.

she hadn't seen him since that day, but she couldn't stop thinking about him. she felt like she was a thirteen year old girl with a crush on the older boy next door. grabriella didn't even know his name, but she had been daydreaming about those blue eyes. it was true. sure, the guy was cute but those eyes just made her knees go weak. she barely heard the teacher telling her to take a seat, but she adjusted the bag on her shoulder as she made her way to the empty desk in the back of the room by a boy who was sleeping and an african american girl who had her knows in a book. gabriella pulled out her schedule and the map the principal gave her. with a bright pink harpie she began to mark where all her classes were. "don't let sharpay see that sharpie," she heard the girl next to her inform her. turning to face the african american girl beside her she asked, "why?" the girl laughed before replying "she's obsessed with pink." gabriella nodded as she glanced around the room observing her classmates. "i'm guessing she's the blonde in the sparkling pink outfit in the front." the girl laughed as she nodded and went back to her book. gabi was about to go back to hr map when she just happened to glance up and once again get caught up in those same blue eyes. it seemed like an eternity before that same girl leaned over and said, "and that's troy bolton. east's golden boy and boy-toy." grabriella broke the gaze and turned to the girl, "you mean…" she trailed off not wanting to assume but the girl's tone didn't leave much wiggle room. the girl nodded and finished gabi's sentence, "…calling 

him a player wouldn't be an overstatement." she could feel him looking at her but she refrained from returning to his gaze. she rather not get to know him if he has that reputation. god, she was thinking like her mother.

the bell rang shortly after, when gabs went to get up she abruptly turned to the girl that had been telling her about the sharpay girl and troy, "and who are you?" the girl smiled sweetly and extended her hand to gabi "i'm taylor, taylor mckessie." she smiled and took taylor's hand, "gabriella montez, but only my parents call me gabriella so butcher my name please." taylor laughed at that. gabi could tell that she was defiantly going to like taylor. the two talked and figured out they actually had a lot in common, class and education wise. they both enjoyed academics and both were very competitive. they even had the same classes except for gabi's dance and drama and choir where tay, as she had started calling her, had gym and club and free period. even taylor thought gabs workload was a bit crazy. the brunette stuck by taylor during her classes, and she couldn't help but noticed that troy was in her four core classes too. she avoided him which wasn't all that hard with al her practice of avoiding fans in new york. she was doing good just sitting by taylor. that was how she met martha, a dance crazed 'nerd' who was a bit too happy for gabi's taste, and kelsi, an overly shy composer who gabi found quite cute. they invited her to eat lunch with them, and she did although she felt a little uncomfortable not know anyone. then after lunch she had dance with Martha. she really enjoyed the dance class to; it had been awhile since she just danced for fun. then came drama which she successfully avoided everyone. right now three new friends seemed like a good balance with all her "after school commitments." while she had gotten lucky in drama, she didn't get so lucky in choir. that is when she met the infamous sharpay evans.

the choir teacher decided to test her in different vocal ranges, starting with soprano one, and she placed her right beside the bubbly but bitchy looking blonde. while mrs. damell, the choir teacher, worked with the tenors gabriella tried to pay attention but it was hard because she could feel sharpay's gaze on her. "so…" the blonde said causing gabi to look at her. "you're a singer…with a bestselling underground pop cd." gabi couldn't help but look at her like she was crazy, how the hell did she know that?! "um yeah," the brunette replied running her hand through her hair. she could still feel sharpay's eyes on her, and it was as uncomfortable as hell. "you don't look like a pop star," sharpay said slowly. this wasn't the first time someone had said this to her, so it didn't take her off guard like she figured sharpay had hoped it would. gabriella smiled sweetly at the blonde before replying, "well this is me during the week. me on friday night is a tad different." a smirk appeared on sharpay's face and surprisingly enough if fit her. actually that smirk fit her a little too much. mrs. damell was on her way to the girls so gabi turned to face the front, but she didn't miss sharpay's last comment which was, "i think i might like you. you might change him…might!" however, gabi didn't have time to ask her what she meant before she was instructed to begin singing. the rest of the class seemed to drag on until it finally ended at three o'clock. as much as she wanted to chase down the sharpay girl and ask what she meant gabriella knew she'd better get home.

sighing, she picked up her things and made her way out to her car. she had found out at lunch that taylor and Martha had scholastic decathlon practice after school, and kelsi had to play practice considering the summer play was to open the next week and kels had wrote the music for it. why the "summer play" was being put on at almost the beginning of fall gabi just couldn't understand though. however, she knew they wouldn't try to distract her from going home obviously. when in reality she really wanted to them to. the last placed she wanted to go was home. she wondered what her mother would have planned for her, probably dance practice then a phone conference with the record label representatives neither sounded appealing to the young woman. yet, she knew in a few minutes she 'd be putting her heart and soul into something she'd rather not be doing. gabriella wasn't really sure when she gave up fighting for a completely normal life, but what she did know was that as long as she lived under her parents roof, that a normal life wasn't going to happen. coming up on her candy apple red camero, she ocudln't help but smile. the one good thing about this was she got pretty much whatever she wanted, materially at least, like veronica her '79 t-top candy apple red camero. god, she loved that car. it was probably her favorite possession right after her guitar. gabriella threw her books into the back seat before turning to get into the driver's seat. however instead of coming to face the door, she came face to face with the blue eyed boy she'd been avoiding. "hi," he said before taking her hand and kissing it like in those cheesy movies, but it still made her blush. "i'm troy, troy bolton."