Gabriella was nervous. It was her first day at East High and her first day of junior year. She was standing outside looking up at the giant building. She felt so small compared to it. She took the small paper schedule out of her pocket and looked at it, searching for the room number of her first class. A32. Of course that didn't really help her as she had absolutely no clue where that was. She decided to go to the main office and ask someone in there. She felt a little stupid; she didn't like being the new girl and not know where anything was. But she didn't have any other choice at the moment. She had been dreading this day since she moved to Albuquerque 2 weeks ago. Her mother of course insisted that everything would be fine and she would make a ton of friends. She wasn't so sure about that. It wasn't that she though people wouldn't like her, she was just incredibly shy at first. So meeting new people had always been a difficulty for her.

After she had stopped by the office for directions she decided to go check out her locker, which the office assistant told her would be in the same hallway as her homeroom. She found her classroom and then glanced at the row of cream colored lockers. She walked down the hall until she found hers. Number 34, a top locker. Which she was silently thankful for. She'd had a bottom locker at her old school and it was always a pain to bend over or kneel on the ground to get her stuff out. There was really no reason for her to open it now as she didn't have anything to put inside but she figured she would at least make sure the combination worked. It did. She shut the locker and turned around and walked into her classroom. There were only a handful of empty seats left and she opted for the one in the back.

The girl next to her leaned over and said "I like your dress." Gabriella smiled shyly at the girl and said thank you. It had taken her a week to decide what to wear. Normally she wasn't too picky or concerned with what she wore, but today she wanted to make a good impression. So she settled on a medium length dark purple sundress with a pair of black strappy high heels. "You're welcome, it really is gorgeous."

"I'm Taylor by the way," she said as she stuck her hand out towards the brunette. Gabriella shook the extended hand, "I'm Gabriella."

"Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before." Taylor asked. "Yeah, I just moved here two weeks ago from Seattle." Taylor opened her mouth to say something else but the ringing of the bell interrupted her. She smiled at Gabriella and said "We'll talk more after class ok?" to which Gabriella just smiled and nodded. She was feeling better about the day now. She'd made a friend already. Well at least a potential friend. She leaned back in her chair and listened to the teacher for the rest of class. When the bell rung again and class was over, she picked up her backpack and followed Taylor out the door. "Hey let me see your schedule and see if we have any other classes together!" Taylor said excitedly. Gabriella handed her the little piece of paper. She watched as the other girl scanned it carefully. "Awesome! We have 6th period History together!" Gabriella was actually really happy that she would at least know someone in one of her classes. "That's great." "Totally, so do you know where your next class is?" She asked. Gabriella shook her head and Taylor told her which direction to go and then said she would see her in 6th period.

Second period was very boring, she didn't talk to anyone, no one talked to her. She just listened to the teacher talk…again, while hoping the rest of her classes wouldn't be like this one. After class she had managed to find her 3rd period English class on her own. She found a seat on the side of the room in the middle row. The bell had rung and class had started when the teacher looked to the back of the room with a bemused expression on her face " I hope this isn't going to be a habit with you Ms. Evans." she stated. Gabriella turned around in her seat to see who the teacher was talking about. A stunningly gorgeous tall blonde girl was standing at the back of the room, making her way through the desks to an empty seat. "It's the first day, give me a break!" the blonde replied back. "Ah, Sharpay, don't play that card with me, we both know you know your way around this school just fine. Ill let it slide today but don't let it happen again." Mrs. Lockhart told her. The blonde didn't say anything back, she just sat down and took out her notebook.

Gabriella couldn't help but look at the blonde girl. She was different than most people here she could tell. She was dressed to the nines in a pink mini skirt, matching low cut top, what looked like stiletto heals and a very flashy diamond bracelet. And although she didn't know designer stuff very well, she was pretty sure that the girl had a Gucci purse. Definitely not someone who belonged in Albuquerque. For some reason, she was entranced. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the girl for the rest of the class. There was just something about her, she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. The sound of the bell broke her trance and she quickly packed up her stuff and left.

Lunch was next. She was suddenly nervous again. Was she going to have to sit by herself and look like a loner? She really didn't want to have to do that. There was that Taylor girl, but what if she didn't have the same lunch period? She walked slowly to the cafeteria and groaned inwardly when she arrived. It was huge and there were people everywhere! How would she ever find a place to sit? She sighed and thought about just going to the library instead when she heard her name being called. She turned around to see Taylor walking toward her. Thank god she thought. "Hey, wanna come sit with us?" Taylor asked as she motioned to herself and two guys behind her. The brunette gave her a relieved smile and said yes. "Great, come on, we usually sit over there." she said pointing to an empty table across the cafeteria. Gabriella followed after her. They all sat down at the table and Taylor introduced everyone. "Gabriella, this is my boyfriend Chad, and this is his best friend Troy. Boys, this is Gabriella." Taylor said nicely. Everyone shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. "So Taylor tells me you moved here from Seattle? What's it like there?" Troy asked. "Yeah, I grew up there. Its great. Rainy as I'm sure you've heard, but still great." She replied. He was kind of cute she thought. He was a little bit taller than she was, appeared to be in very good shape, with shaggy light brown hair and beautiful eyes. "So what do you think of it here so far?" he asked. "The city or the school?" "Both." "Um, well its nice, I mean, I'm used to being in a big city, so it's a little weird being in a small town. And as for the school, I like it so far. Its clean." Gabriella answered. Troy gave her a confused look. "Its clean?" She laughed "Yeah! The schools in Seattle were nice, but to be honest, they really weren't the cleanest."

"Hey aren't you hungry?" Taylor asked, realizing that Gabriella didn't have any food. "Oh no, I'm fine." Her nerves had gotten the better of her stomach and she didn't think she be able to keep anything down even if she wanted to. "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I promise. First day jitters and all, last thing on my mind is food." She admitted. "I guess I can understand that." Taylor replied. Gabriella smiled at her and then something caught her eye and she smiled wider. Everyone at the table looked in the direction she was staring at. "Ah, the ice queen makes an appearance." Troy stated in a flat tone. The brunette was confused. "Ice queen?" They all nodded and Troy answered "Yeah, Sharpay Evans a.k.a the ice queen. She is the bitch of the school." Gabriella frowned at that information. "Really?" she asked. Not believing it. "Yup, the only person she is even somewhat nice to is her twin brother Ryan." For some reason, Gabriella didn't want to believe that the girl she was so entranced with earlier, was really that horrible a person. "So I'd advise staying out of her way if you can help it." Chad piped in. She let her eyes wander back to Sharpay, who was now yelling at someone to get out of her way so she could get her food. Before Gabriella could contemplate that, Troy changed the topic and asked her if she liked basketball. "Chad and I are the captains of the basketball team, you should come to a game sometime." Taylor nodded her head enthusiastically "Yeah! This year I'll have someone to go with me when Chad makes me go!" The brunette smiled at that and nodded her head. "Yeah ok, that sounds fun." "Oh! What's your next class?" Troy asked like he meant to ask earlier but forgot. "Science, with Mr. Cook." She replied. "Sweet! Me too! I could walk with you after lunch and show you where it is?" He said excitedly. "That would be great." Again she was thankful that she would know someone in her next class. They spent the rest of lunch chit chatting and getting to know each other better and after lunch, Troy walked Gabriella to science class just like he promised.

They walked into class and sat down at a table in the back. More people filed in taking their seats just as the two of them had. Troy leaned back in his chair, surveyed the room and said "I hope we don't get assigned seats." Gabriella was about to say 'me too', when one Sharpay Evans walked in the room and suddenly Gabriella was thinking that she might not be completely against assigned seats. "Oh great, I was hoping to make it through the day without having any classes with her." Troy whined.

"Ok class, first things first, yes there will be assigned seats." Mr. cook said to the class. A collective groan could be heard throughout the room. "Yes, yes I know, it's the end of the world." He joked. "Now id like everyone to stand up and move to the back of the room."

As everyone was doing so, Troy whispered to Gabriella "This sucks. But hey maybe we'll end up sitting with each other anyway." Gabriella was glancing in Sharpay's direction. "Yeah, maybe" She replied distractedly. The teacher called out two names at a time and showed them where to sit.

"Gabriella Montez and Sharpay Evans." The teacher called a few minutes later. Gabriella could feel herself smiling on the inside and she could hear Troy whisper his apologies to her. Mr. Cook pointed to the table in front of him and both girls walked over and took at seat. The teacher continued to call out names.

"You're new." Sharpay stated flatly. "Yes, I am." Gabriella replied matter of factly. Sharpay rolled her eyes "Great, of course I'm stuck with the new kid." Annoyance apparent in her voice. "And apparently I'm stuck with a smartass." Gabriella shot back, smiling though as she said it. Sharpay just stared at her and then turned back towards the teacher.

When the teacher finished getting everyone seated he said "Ok, I have something else to tell you……The person you are sitting next to will be your lab partner for the rest of the year." There were a few "sweet's! and a few ugh's!" One of which came from Sharpay. Maybe this girl really was the bitch of the school Gabriella couldn't help but think. But she quickly shook that thought off. The teacher went on to say that they would be having 2 labs a month and they would be given a week to work on them. Always given on a Monday and always due on Friday. He then passed out some papers that had all their projects and labs listed along with the due dates. He talked for the rest of class and Gabriella wasn't able to say anything else to Sharpay. After class Troy quickly expressed his dislike again for Sharpay and then told her he had to run because he had gym next and it was all the way on the other side of the school. And then he was gone before she could even reply.

Gabriella stood in the hallway outside the class looking up and down between her schedule and the hallways. She didn't know where to go for her next class. She bit her bottom lip thinking about what to do. She was about to go ask Mr. Cook when a voice beside her said "You lost?" And oddly enough, she already knew that voice. She smiled before turning around and saying "Sort of. I have Spanish next but I'm not sure where it's at." Sharpay grabbed the schedule from Gabriella's hands and looked it over. Handing it back she said "Come with me." Gabriella followed after her. "Why are you helping out the new kid?" She asked. Sharpay stopped for a second and said "I can't have my lab partner standing around looking like an idiot because she doesn't know where to go." Gabriella let out a little laugh. "Of course, that would be bad…for you." "Exactly, now come on." The taller girl replied as she quickened her pace down the hall. They didn't say anything else to each other while they walked. "There you go." Sharpay said as she pointed to the Spanish room. "Thank you." Gabriella said sincerely. Sharpay didn't say anything as she walked two doors down to her own classroom.

The rest of the day went by quickly for Gabriella. She had talked with Taylor a little more in 6th period and now she was walking to the parking lot to find her car. She paused mid step when she saw a pink convertible mustang parked in a spot with a big pink signed that read 'Reserved for Sharpay Evans'. She sighed and then laughed a little. How did she get that? She wondered. It didn't appear that anyone had their own parking spot, but after today, it somehow seemed fitting that Sharpay Evans would have her own.