Okay here it is everyone, my first fanfic, so please be kind! I apologize to any dancers out there for my poor descriptions .Also you will probably realize I am English and may be having a little trouble with my Americanisms. This story is already complete but I'm just new to this uploading thing so please bear with me and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy. Xx TinkT.

Gabriella Montez clutched her books closer to her chest, put her head down and quickened her pace, the sneers of her classmates still ringing in her ears.

"Hey Speccy Montez!" shouted Troy Bolton "hey Geeky Gabi I'm talking to you" he yelled.

She felt tears prick her eyes, not tears of hurt or sadness, but of anger and frustration. Why couldn't she stand up to Troy Bolton and his basketball robots? Why? Because he was the most popular guy in school, cool, handsome, smart and good at sports, the basketball captain. From his shaggy blond hair and baby blue eyes, to his muscular chest and strong arms he was every girl's fantasy come to life. Every girl except for Gabriella. She hated him and his friends with a passion.

Opening her locker door with a sigh she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Still plain old Speccy Montez, with her oversize glasses and her long dark hair pulled into a severe pony tail. She was plain, nerdy and geeky. But, she thought with a grimace, that didn't make her any less of a person than Troy, the basketball boy and his gang of airhead cheerleaders. She was relieved it was the week before vacation, at least next week she would have some respite from them.

"Hi Gabs" came a friendly voice from behind her. Shutting her locker door she turned around with a warm smile for her best friend Taylor.

"Hey Tay, am I glad to see you"

The pretty dark skinned girl frowned slightly "Let me guess Bolton and basketball robots?"

Gabriella nodded and watched as Troy and his team strolled past closely followed by several giggling cheerleaders.

"Why me Tay? What have I ever done to them?" she asked with a sigh.

"You exist on a higher plane to them, they're threatened by you."

"Me?" she shook her head "I don't think so"

"You're like sooo super intelligent" Taylor mimicked in her cheerleader voice and both the girls giggled.

Gabriella sighed again "But why does that give them the right to treat me the way they do?"

Taylor linked her arm with Gabriella's and looked her in the eye.

"You just need to stand up to them Gabs. They only do it cause you let them"

Gabriella shook her head so vigorously that her ponytails swished around her face "No thanks I like my head exactly where it is".

Together they took their seats in homeroom and waited for Ms Darbus to begin. Ms Darbus was the drama and dance teacher, she loved all people and things theatrical, she was very flamboyant often wearing bright mismatching colours and long flowing Kaftans'.

"Just a few notices before we begin. Those of you lucky enough to be of an artistic temperament will be interested to know that this year's musicale will be somewhat different-"

"-What not as bad?" Taylor muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

Gabriella swallowed a giggle as Ms Darbus droned on.

"-and so this year we want our artistes to concentrate as much on their choreography, as their music"

Gabriella's interest was suddenly piqued, she loved to dance, it was her escape. When she danced she felt beautiful, she was no longer plain old Speccy Montez with her ugly baggy clothes and oversize glasses.

Taylor looked over at her with an excited smile and nodded encouragingly

"No way", she mouthed back already reading her friend's mind.

"Ms Montez!" a stern voice interrupted "Something you wish to share with the class?"

Gabriella flushed bright red and hung her head "N- No Ms Darbus"

"Excellent. Then I will see you in detention this evening"

Gabriella wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.

"Way to go Darbus give that geek a detention" she heard Troy mutter from the back of the room with a chuckle

"Mr. Bolton you can join her! Anyone else?"

The class went deadly silent and remained that way until the bell went, to signal the start of period one.

"Oh Gabs I am so sorry" Taylor gushed as they entered the chemistry lab along the hall.

Gabriella shrugged "It's okay" she lied smoothly not wanting to upset her best friend.

But Gabriella knew it was not okay, spending detention with Troy Bolton was her worst nightmare and she had a feeling things were only going to get worse.

And she was right. Troy was majorly pissed that he was missing practice to go to detention because of Speccy Montez. If it had been because of a cheerleader or one of the guys, that would be a different story, but because of Speccy Montez. The basketball robots were furious that he would miss practice and the cheerleaders were annoyed they wouldn't get to watch Troy take his shirt off on the basketball court. Gabriella took the brunt of their combined anger. In chemistry someone stole her book, leaving her unable to hand in her homework, resulting in a lunch time detention. In Math the cheerleaders put gum on her chair and in her hair. And when she finally got a lunch after detention, one of the basketball robots "accidentally" spilt chocolate milk down her white sweater. By fifth period Gabriella was close to tears and took refuge in the library to complete some homework and gather her courage for Darbus' detention.

As she walked into the dance studio where detention was held she felt sick with nerves. What would Troy's reaction be? Surely with Darbus watching he wouldn't be able to do anything? Stepping through the door she heard music playing and found Ms Darbus deep in conversation with a petite brown haired girl wearing a cap and dainty glasses. Gabriella recognized her as Kelsi Neilson president of the music club.

"Um Ms Darbus" she interrupted speaking quietly.

"Ah Ms Montez you at least are on time, unlike our leading man shall we say. Mr. Bolton has not yet arrived for detention and I think I may have to track him down" she said and swept from the room in a wall of lilac silk.

"Hi" she said shyly" You're Kelsi Neilson right?"

The girl nodded and smiled "And you're Gabriella Montez"

It was a statement not a question.

"What's that you're listening to?" Gabriella asked

"It's the music from the opening number of the musicale. Ms Darbus and I are trying out some choreography before the auditions"

Gabriella listened to the music and felt her foot start to tap in time "It's great, what is it?"

Kelsi blushed "I wrote it. D'ya really like it?"

Gabriella nodded and began to sway slightly in time with the music

"Do you dance?" asked Kelsi

"Me?" squeaked Gabriella "N-NO!"

"Well you should, you have pretty good rhythm" she paused and looked at Gabriella appraisingly "Could you maybe help me run through some of the moves, so I can see what they look like?"

"I don't know . . .I'd look silly, I'm not a dancer"

"You'd be great Gabriella, I know you would . . . Please I wouldn't ask but I really need your help"

Gabriella looked at the pleading expression on her face and knew she wouldn't be able to say No, she'd never been able to say no. She sighed "Okay show me".

Kelsi stopped the music and stood next to Gabriella in front of the mirrored wall.

"So its 1, 2, 3, kick, step, hip, back, 2, 3, 4, hip, hip, hip. Cubana, Cubana, basic salsa round for three" Kelsi said as she demonstrated the moves. Gabriella followed her, nervously darting looks at Kelsi in the mirror to check she was doing it right.

"That's great Gabriella; you're really good at this . . . Ready to try with the music?"

She nodded and Kelsi took her place before counting her in and together they began to move in time to the music. For Gabriella it was like flying. She didn't even have to think about the moves it was all instinctual as she moved in time.

"Gabriella that was amazing, you are so talented" Kelsi said when they were finished and Gabi shrugged.

"Not really I just like to dance"

"You totally have to try out for the show, you'd be wonderful"

Gabriella shook her head "No I couldn't really, I'm not very good and to get up in front of all those people . . ." she trailed off with a shrug.

"Not very good? Gabriella you really have something special" Kelsi reassured her softly.

"Special? Her? Yeah Special needs maybe" a deep voice drawled from the doorway. Gabriella spun around to see Troy standing in the doorway his arms crossed lazily across his chest.

"That's not very nice" Kelsi said warily to the basketball captain.

He snorted "What is this dork dancers Ed?"

Gabriella's cheeks flamed had Troy seen her?

"H- How long have you been there?" she asked breathlessly almost angrily. Troy raised one perfect sandy brow "Just got here, why what'd I miss?"

"Nothing" she mumbled eyes on the floor.

"Ah Mr. Bolton" it was Ms Darbus "I see you've deigned to join us"

"Better late than never" he replied sarcastically.

"I don't know about that" Gabriella muttered under her breath.

"Hey Geek I heard that" Troy hissed as Ms Darbus continued to espouse the wonder of the theatre, unfortunately she overheard their exchange.

"Bolton! Montez! The pair of you have shown no respect what so ever for the arts, and so to teach you both some manners you will be joining Miss Neilson and I every evening after class to help prepare for the auditions"

Gabriella and Troy stared at her in open mouthed horror.

"A week" they said together and turned to each other.

"This is your fault geek" snapped Troy glaring down at her.

"My fault? You're the one who arrived late for detention!" she hissed angrily

Troy smirked "Well well, Speccy Montez has a temper" he jeered

"A Temper? A Temper?" Gabriella fumed pushing her glasses up her nose to glare at him. For a second they stared at each other in mutual hatred.

"Um excuse me?" it was Kelsi

"What?" they snapped turning to look at Kelsi.

"We can run through the couples routines now if you'd like?"

"Us?" Gabriella gulped, not wanting Troy to know that she could dance. She didn't need to give him any more reasons to bully her.

"Like?" Troy snapped "I am not dancing with her! Do you know what that would do to my rep if anyone found out I had been that close to Speccy Montez?". Troy shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.

"Bolton! Montez! You will do as Kelsi asks you otherwise it's another week of detentions for defiant behavior!" Ms Darbus ordered as she once more swept from the room.

"Christ's sake! I. Do. Not. Dance. With. Dorks, "he spoke slowly pronouncing every word, as though he was talking to a pair of four year olds.

"We have to" Gabriella sighed already resigned to her fate "I have too much homework to do to spend another week in your company Troy"

"Hey I wasn't offering Geek"

Gabriella was filled with the sudden urge to run closely followed by the sudden urge to be sick. She was going to have to dance with the coolest guy in school, the coolest guy who just so happened to be her worst nightmare.

Troy looked at Gabriella. He had never seen her look so down and so defeated. She hung her head and slouched her shoulders inside her over baggy sweater, she wouldn't look at him. Suddenly Troy felt a little bad and realized that neither of them really had a choice when it came to these detentions, maybe he had been a little hard on her.

"Fine" he snapped" But if this ever gets out then I'm denying everything"

Kelsi looked relieved and smiled nervously "Okay then . . . So Gabriella if you stand here and Troy you stand in front of her" she nodded "Gabriella you need to put your right hand on Troy's hip"

"Where?" she squeaked feeling a flush begin, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her.

"My hip Speccy . . . You should know where that is, you're a science geek remember?" he chuckled at the look of sheer horror on her face.

Gabriella lifted her hand towards Troy and was disgusted to see it was shaking as she placed it against his hip. She gulped; he was as solid as rock and this was the closet she had ever been to a guy's body in her life.

"Now Troy can you so the same with your left hand"

Troy snorted "If I can find it under all these layers".

Gabriella stiffened and knew he was referring to her size. She wasn't fat by any means but she was blessed with curves, lots of them, the sort of curves that could have caused her a lot of unwanted attention, which was why she covered them up. Her breath hitched in her throat and she jumped slightly as she felt him place his hand against her hip.

"Um Guys? You gotta get a bit closer" Kelsi indicated to the large gap between them, there was almost room for a whole other couple.

They took a reluctant step forward and then two more when Kelsi glared at them. Gabriella ended up so close to Troy she could smell his cologne and almost feel his breath on her face. She felt dizzy for a second and closed her eyes.

"Ok, so now extend your arms and join hands," she instructed, watching them closely.

Gabriella's eyes popped open as felt Troy's large hand take hold of hers. It was warm and pretty soft but she could feel the slight calluses on his palm and fingers from years spent playing with a basketball.

Gabriella's mouth went dry as looked at Troy up close; he really was the most gorgeous guy in school she thought with a frown.

"So Gabriella you go back on your left foot for a count of two and Troy you come forward with your right…So back for two then forward for two" she demonstrated next to them adding a wiggle of her hips.

"Ow! Jesus Montez!" Troy snapped as she stepped on his toes

"S- sorry" she stammered bright red, refusing to look at him but at her feet as they shuffled awkwardly back and forth.

Troy hid a smile, it hadn't hurt when Gabriella stepped on his foot, her feet were that tiny, he barely felt the impact but he enjoyed seeing her flustered.

Kelsi looked at Gabriella wondering why she suddenly lost all sense of rhythm and musicality as she danced with Troy.

"It's just the basic salsa, ok Gabriella" she said trying to reassure her.

Gabriella managed to move backwards and forwards but she couldn't relax, she knew she was stiff and wooden and so very nervous because of Troy. She was annoyed to find that Troy was really good; he picked up the steps quickly and had an amazing sense of timing, probably something to do with him being so good at sports she reasoned. He smirked knowingly, as though he could read her thoughts and she grimaced at him.

Before she knew it detention was over and she was leaving the studio with her stuff.

"Guess dancing just isn't your thing geek, too bad they don't have a special ed class for that, because you really could do with it" Troy said to her, as they stepped into the parking lot, where Troy's latest fling was waiting for him.

All blond hair and boobs, Chanelle was a total airhead, admitted Troy to himself, as Gabriella walked by. But then he wasn't with her for her intellect. He smirked and pulled her closer for a hot, wet, kiss, his hands going up her shirt to play with her breasts.

"Hey Troyie" she pouted when he let her come up for air "What are you doing with Speccy Montez?"

"The geek landed us both in detention with Darbus for a week" he explained kissing her neck, biting her gently, hearing her moan.

"What a bitch!" she said breathily

"I know" he muttered before capturing her lips with his own and pushing her against the wall. There was no more talking after that.