Gabriella felt the music pumping through her body. She let the beat travel to her head. She let her mind clear of everything that wasn't important right now, which was everything that had nothing to do with dance. Gabriella smiled as the music shut off and the feeling of accomplishing something rushed through her. She had just learned a new dance move that she would be using in five months as that was the time the big dance competition took place in her county down in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Although the dance move was still a little bit shaky and Gabriella didn't totally feel comfortable doing it yet seeing as it was nowhere near perfection which was her standard her mother set her too, Gabriella still felt proud since that was her first time using it.

"Well?" Gabriella asked as she turned her petite body to look at her mother who was standing behind Gabriella, and although Gabriella could just look in front of her through the mirror to see her mom's reflection, she still turned around to get the full view of things in their dance studio that her mom owned for part time business on her own free time while mostly during the day she worked at this huge reality business that brought in a lot of money.

Anna cracked a small smile. Gabriella knew that it must have been at least a little bit good to earn herself a smile seeing as Anna was very picky on Gabriella's dances. "Not the best, but it could be worse."

Gabriella squealed with excitement. This was her average morning, get up at 5 in the morning, get down to the studio for a 5:30 rehearsal with just her teacher which just happened to be her mom, and then get into the shower which was attached to the studio at 6:30 and leave for school at 7:10 to just make it on time for the bell at 7:30. It was perfect, why should anything change?

Anna sighed, "Remember, if you can't stick it, then it's--" Anna was cut off.

"Then it's been a waste of twelve years." Gabriella finished in a dry annoyed tone that she hid expertly. That was the only thing that Gabriella hated, was the fact her mother always found her faults and somehow pointed them out.

Anna smiled proudly. "Good, now again…5...6...7...8!"

Gabriella smiled as she started one of her warm up dances and let the music course through her body as she worked up her momentum and transferred all her pent up energy into the new dance move which she was expected to have nailed by the end of the week or sooner.

Gabriella kissed her mother on the cheek as she ran past her and out to her jeep wrangler that was parked in the street outside the studio. She was running late today seeing as she ran through the new dance move once more. Gabriella flipped her head over and then back again as she put it up into a perfect messy ponytail as she got into her car with a granola bar hanging out of her mouth. Gabriella started her car and sped off towards school. She would be lying if she said she hated going, but she would also be considered a liar if she said she loved it. She was one of those people who were stuck in between of liking it.

Gabriella turned the music off and got out of her car while she was automatically greeted with 'heys' or 'how's it going' as she just smiled, waved, and occasionally nodded while she made her way to the steps leading up to East High. Some people would call her popular, some would call her hot or sexy, and some would even call her a good lay, and even though that might be true, Gabriella still didn't believe in stereotypes.

"Hey Brie." Gabriella turned around and smiled at her best friend who was approaching while carrying a green American Eagle bag full with her books that she would need.

"Hey Tay." Gabriella greeted back as Taylor looked at her weirdly as the two continued to walk into school while some kids made paths for them to walk.

"Is that a new outfit?" Taylor asked as Gabriella rolled her eyes thinking that Taylor was going to say something a little bit more important than that.

"Yeah it is." Gabriella said as they turned a corner. She was wearing a black American Eagle graphic T with low hip hugger jeans so when she sat down you would see her lower back which showed off the tip of her tattoo that she got when she turned 16 of a red rose.

"So are you coming to the basketball game on Friday?" Taylor asked trying to make small talk.

Gabriella stopped walking and leaned against the wall while some football players walked by and nodded at her as they flashed her a smile which she returned. "Tay, you know I can't." Gabriella said as this is what she had to tell Taylor all the time. "I would love to see Chad play a basketball game, but you know I have practice." Gabriella sighed along with Taylor as she saw Taylor's face fall.

Gabriella hated this part of her life, not the friend part, but the part where she would disappoint her friends by blowing them off almost every time they wanted to do something. Almost every night she would have a dance class after school for two hours and then some nights she doubled up on dance practices while her mom drilled her, and then when mini competitions came around Gabriella would even be pulled out of gym class which she always had last period of school and just head on over to the studio for an extra hour of practice due to the fact Mr. Bolton and her mother had some deal worked out between the two so Gabriella wouldn't fail gym. Truth was, Gabriella hadn't been to a proper gym class since her first week of being a freshman, two years ago.

"No, it's okay. I know you want to come, but maybe we can do something Wednesday then?" Taylor asked hopefully.

Gabriella thought about this as she looked up to see Taylor's waiting face while the hallways around them seemed to be thinning out quickly. "I have practice until 8 and I'm sure I'll be getting a lot of homework, but how about around 9:30 I come over and we just hang out?" Gabriella suggested.

"Okay then." Taylor said as they looked around and noticed that they were the only two there. "Shit." Taylor cursed.

Gabriella rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "Come on Tay."

They walked silently to homeroom which they had with Ms. Darbus and saw that they were at least five minutes late. "How much you want to bet we have detention?" Taylor said.

Gabriella sighed as she opened the door and 40 eyes were directed on them. "Hey Ms. Darbus." Gabriella said nonchalantly as Taylor pushed past her and scurried to her seat in the second to back row next to her boyfriend Chad Danforth who was the co captain of their schools varsity basketball team.

Gabriella just stood by the door as if it was nothing. That was her plan, just play it cool and everything would somehow work out okay. Gabriella looked around with a small visible smirk on her face as if this was the first time of being in this room. Her eyes scanned over the kids that were busy finishing up late homework, kids busy reading on their own free time, kids busy filing their nails, and then she saw them. She saw those blue eyes that seemed to connect with hers.

This wasn't the first time that their eyes connected, in fact it had to be the hundredth time in the two weeks of their junior year that this had happened seeing as they were in three out of their five classes together. And even when they didn't have those two classes together, they still had the same schedule, just different teachers so they were always in the same hallways as each other. The only thing that they didn't share together was their lockers which were in different hallways across the school.

Gabriella tore her eyes away as she looked at Ms. Darbus who had her eyes narrowed slightly. "And you don't expect me to notice you and Miss. McKessie disturbing my class Miss Montez?" She asked slyly as she made a few clicks on her computer.

Gabriella shrugged as she took her seat in the back row, back corner that was right by the football Captain, Jake Hill. "You could choose not to and we can all forget that we were ever late." Gabriella suggested coolly.

Ms. Darbus rolled her eyes seeing as this was always the same thing Gabriella said in the mornings that she was late. "Very well, I'll see you during your free period and you and I can have a very long discussion on being on time. That goes for you to Miss McKessie." Darbus said sharply as she clicked her tongue and Taylor sunk in her seat as Chad tried to reassure her that getting a lecture was better than detention.

Gabriella closed her eyes again knowing that it was time to play the best friend mode. "Darbus." Gabriella called out disturbing the attendance.

Darbus looked up sharply from her computer and looked at Gabriella annoyed. "Yes Montez?"

Gabriella crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at Darbus with a serious face. Her mother would get somewhat mad about this, but Tay didn't deserve a lecture during her free period seeing as she had a decathlon meeting to run.

"What if I said Tay made it to class on time by the bell, she wasn't late with her best friend, and I skipped your homeroom?" Gabriella suggested slyly.

"Well then…" Darbus didn't know what to say. "I would have to say you would get a detention instead of a talk during free period."

Gabriella smiled as if she had just won the lottery. Ms. Darbus wasn't all that bad, she just had to follow her own rules and punish the ones that didn't to show everyone that you can't get away with misbehaving and taking advantage of her. "Well I just said it."

"What are you doing Brie?" Jake whispered out of the side of his mouth while Darbus looked at Gabriella skeptically.

"I'll see you after school Darbus, let's say a 3:30 detention?" Gabriella didn't wait for Darbus to say anything as the bell rang and some people hurried out of the room as mostly the jocks and the 'in' crowd stuck around. "I'll see you later Darbus." Gabriella said as Tay came rushing over to her.

"What the hell did you do that for Brie?" Taylor asked with a smile.

"Way to say thanks." Gabriella said sarcastically. "I did it for you, now you don't have to worry about missing your practice."

"But you will." Taylor said. "What about your mom?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "She'll just have to deal with it."

Chad walked up and put his arm around her as Jake walked past the three and winked at Gabriella who smiled and giggled back. "He so likes you." Tay said.

"Hey Chad." Gabriella said ignoring Taylor's comment as Chad and Tay just continued to smirk at Gabriella.

"Hey Gabster, what's up other then you just literally bargained your way into detention with Darbus for a whole hour." Chad exclaimed.

"It could be worse." Gabriella shrugged as she waved good bye. "I got to go to Spanish, but see you guys at lunch." Gabriella called back to her two very good friends as her eyes met the blue orbs once again and her stomach did a flip. Gabriella once again tore her eyes away from them as she continued to walk to her Spanish class knowing the blue eyes were watching her every move since it was like their little ritual, he would always be behind her after homeroom as they both walked to Spanish.

"I am so tired." Chad complained as he and Troy walked to the gym during their free period.

Troy sighed as he scanned the hallways while people greeted him and smiled while waving. Most of the girls tried getting his attention while they smirked or giggled at him as he flashed them his famous Troy Bolton smile. You could say he was the big man on campus even though at times he wished he wasn't.

Troy scanned the hallways as this was the time that he would see her again. In the two weeks that they have been at school so far, he already remembered their schedule down to the exact time that they would see each other in the halls. Troy blocked out whatever Chad was saying as at that exact moment there she was.

She was at her locker putting her books away seeing as she had free period the same time that he did. Troy almost memorized what the exact hand movements she made, first she would put her books in her locker, messily might he add, and then bend down as you got a nice view of her tattoo on her lower back while grabbing a black adidas duffel bag while listening to her ipod. She would shut her locker while some random students might come up to her just to greet her, and if Troy was really having a bad day then some guy would come up to her and start hitting on her, but she would just merely smile, point to her ear phones that were in her ear and walk off.

Their eyes connected and there was no way that Troy was going to lose this staring contest as his blue orbs bore into her brown ones. Troy cracked a smile as she mimicked him and she was on her way. He turned his head slightly to see where she went even though he already knew, she headed towards the front doors of East High and off she went to spend her 60 minutes someplace Troy didn't know. The only thing he knew about her free period was that she would be back in an hour and be sitting in English as their eyes would once again connect.

"So what do you think?" Chad asked as Troy turned his head back around and found that they were already in front of the gym doors and he had no idea what his best friend went on about.

"…what?" Troy asked clearly confused.

Chad rolled his eyes. "About going out after the game on Friday?" Chad repeated again.

"Isn't there an after party that we usually go to?" Troy pushed opened the gym doors without waiting for Chad to respond as Chad followed him in to find that they were the only two in there.

Chad shrugged, "Well Tay and I were thinking about hitting that one club that just opened up for teens…you should come."

Troy picked up the basketball that was in the middle of the court and started bobbling it back and forth from hand to hand. This was not how he exactly wanted to spend his time after the basketball scrimmage his dad set up as the returning jv and varsity boys of East High the previous year would be joined together as one and then split up into two teams just to have a fun scrimmage against each other seeing as there was no football game going on Friday, but he hadn't really done anything with Chad and Tay since school started, so it could be fun?

"I guess, but if we lose then we just chill okay?" Troy asked as he shot the ball perfectly from the three point line to hear it 'swish'.

Chad rolled his eyes as he ran to get the rebound. "You know we're not going to lose, plus it's only a scrimmage until the basketball season really picks up in October." Chad said as he shot the ball from just within the three point line only to have it bounce right back to him.

Troy let out a little laugh as Chad let out a little huff. "Yeah, I guess I'll go." Troy said as Chad passed him the ball.

"Wow, you're actually doing something with us." Chad mocked surprise as Troy just rolled his eyes and shot the ball.

"You should consider yourself lucky then." The ball went in with nothing but net as Chad copied Troy's actions and rolled his eyes.

The boys continued to play a little one on one as they heard the bell signaling that that period was over. They left the basketball in the gym and continued their journey to the English wing. Chad also had English, but with a different teacher. "So when are you going to get a girlfriend?"

Troy shut his eyes hoping that this was the one conversation that they could skip. He had told Chad the same answer ever since freshman year. "I don't want a girlfriend right now."

Chad sighed as he shook his head disapprovingly. "And why not?"

Troy rolled his eyes as he pushed past some kids in the hallway that were just standing there. Troy was getting tired of this question. He had lived in this town ever since he could remember and had quite a few girlfriends in middle school, who didn't? They were harmless little flings that only ended up with a couple of make out sessions and then a break up because you got bored, but when high school came around Troy just lost interest in useless flings and girlfriends. He wanted to just let go and have fun without thinking of another persons feelings, and pretty soon after that he just wanted to have one girl, but no one ever stood out to him, so he had to always settle on just one night hook ups, which weren't that bad actually.

"Because I don't have time." That was the same answer Troy gave all the time even though they both knew that it was a lie.

"You know, you sound just like Gabi." Chad said and Troy's head perked up and looked at Chad trying to hide the curiousness.

That was her name. That was the mysterious brown eyed girl's name…Gabriella Montez, or as most people called her, Gabi or Brie. They turned a corner and were met by Zeke, another basketball player. They all did their guy handshake before Troy left the two as his classroom was in the next hallway over. He turned his head back slightly again to see that Tay had caught Chad's attention while he had her cornered against the wall and Zeke was with one of the cheerleaders and football players. Troy just rolled his eyes as he escaped to the next brown door down.

He turned to walk into the room and saw Gabi sitting at her desk with her legs pulled up and her feet resting on the ledge of the chair by her so no one would sit by her. Troy just stood in the doorway and off to the side a little so people could still get past as Gabriella looked up at the sudden sound of someone coughing as they walked into the room and then her eyes settled on him.

Troy looked at her with intrigue as he knew barely anything about her out of the two years that the two have been going to school together. All he knew about her was that she was supposedly one of the best dancers state wide, she was in two AP classes which he was in one of them with her and Tay, and she was really into graphic T's from American Eagle as they fit her body perfectly.

Troy knew that this could be an awesome time to ask her out, but something was stopping him right now, was it nerves? Like he told Chad, he doesn't date, he just does one night hook ups, but could she be the girl to get Troy to commit or would she just end up distracting him from one of his dreams of becoming a professional basketball player?

They both shook out of their gazes as the bell went off and Troy hurried to his seat. Troy sat exactly one table behind her so that he could always get the chance to see her just sitting there and occasionally he would get to see her tattoo when she leaned forward.

Troy smirked slightly as the lesson started while Gabi would absentmindedly play with one of her shoulder length curls by wrapping it around one of her fingers and dropping it so it fell back into place again, and then repeating the process. Troy didn't know if it was from pure attraction and curiosity, or if it was just from the fact that he hadn't had sex for three weeks, but whatever it was he was just dying to talk to Gabi once that year to see if just that would fill his needs, and if not then a shower would just have to due.

Troy shook his head slightly to try to clear his thoughts of Gabriella and him hooking up when they haven't even talked in two years, and especially since he could have anyone else also, but something was different about her and he didn't know if that was a good thing or not seeing as he didn't have time for distractions, and although Troy was oblivious to this…Gabriella was thinking the same thing too.