No body make a comment about how V.A.H is Filipina, not Spanish. Montez is Spanish. Deal with it.

Miss modern Cinderella.

MathgeekGirl: So where do you live then?

BallerBoyEHS: Albuquerque. You?

MathgeekGirl: No way! Me too! Where abouts?

BallerBoyEHS has just signed out.

"Dammit!" I muttered under my breath. I'm usually not one for swearing, but this was an amazing occasion. I have no idea who he was, or if he even lived near here, but this boy was special. The things he said, the way he said them, any time he came online, my heart leapt a mile into my mouth. I only had little time to dwell on my Mysterious guy's awful timing; Sharpay's shrill voice came streaming up the marble stairs.

"Gabriella, get here now!" Sharpay's voice was panicky, like something was really wrong. Jumping up, I sprinted down the stairs, skipping several, and raced into the Jacuzzi room. It was when I arrived that I saw the emergency; Sharpay's cucumber had fallen off. Grabbing it of the floor, I threw it into the garbage and handed the plate to Sharpay. She was reclining in the bubbling tub, wearing silver, chrome bathing suit. Even in the Jacuzzi, she was still wearing her jewellery. Diamond earring and a sapphire necklace. I didn't question the next. I knew her to well. Ryan sat next to her, eating a papaya, wearing white and gold trunks.

"Oh, my god, what took you so long?" She laughed, cruelly, Ryan joining in. God, what a bitch.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS

O.k., maybe you're a little confused. How did Gabriella, smart, sassy, sexy Gabriella become Sharpay and Ryan's slave girl? Let me elaborate. I was about to start a new school. The summer before the start of junior year. Drunken teenager coming home from a graduation party. My mom driving from the night shift at the hospital. Need I say more? I can only remember snippets of the funeral: me crying into my dads arm, Dad delivering the eulogy. I didn't make it all the way through. I ran home, throwing off my heels on the way. I remember collapsing into her closet, hugging her clothes to me, inhaling her scent. It smelled like weak perfume and cocoa butter. Dad came home to find me cowering in the closet in their room, crying my eyes out, cuddling her favourite Christmas sweater. He told me that it was going to get better. He told me I'd never be alone again. And for a while I wasn't.

He got married. HE GOT MARRIED. I knew that he was dating some woman, some freaky hippy woman who practised Yoga. And then, one day, I come home from school, and Sharpay, Ryan, Dad and this woman were sat gathered around the sofa. And they told me. That they were getting married, and this was my new family. My father and this stupid woman ended up getting married the Saturday before us kids started school. Just to clear it up, this stupid woman's name was Audrey.

And before I knew it, I was alone again. Four months into the marriage, Audrey had gotten her first botox, and an earthquake hit. He was hit by a falling bookcase, lined with my mom's best china. I remember the scream, the scream that echoed through the house, bouncing off the hard-wood floors and tiled walls. My father died in hospital a few days later, and I held his hand as he slipped further away from me. Tears leaked out of my eyes and onto my white jeans. His breathing laboured, he managed to gasp

'I'll always love you, baby, you will never, ever be alone. I'll always be here.'

I felt like my heart had been ripped out, and worst of all, I was angry. I was angry at my dead father. You could always argue that I was never alone. I had Shar and Ryan, now Sharpay and Ryan Montez, and their stupid, hippy mother. For a while they were nice. For a while, they tiptoed around me, never saying the words mom or dad, buying me expensive gifts from their late millionaire fathers back account. And then, inch by inch, they turned back into their normal, brat selves. They were rich-born, designer-bred, and there was no way that a slight fluxuation in money flow was going to indent their reputation. And so now, Audrey's on support and my job at my dad's old Tapas bar. Originally, it had been a traditional Spanish bar, with real Spanish food and drinks. Now, thanks to the slut, I have nothing off my culture left. Now, it's a 70's ice cream bar, where we waitresses have to wear poodle skirts rather than flamenco dresses, and serve 'Mickey-mouse madness' smoothies rather than Paella de Verdura's and Tapas.

But less of the past. It's about time I got back to reality.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMSHMSHMSHSMHMSHSMHS

"Can you go and fetch me something to drink," Sharpay asked.

"Actually I was just finishing some..." I began, motioning behind my body, talking about my homework upstairs. Sharpay cut across me

"I meant now, Gabriella. If you want to stay here, you're going to have to learn to earn your keep and stopped acting like such, a spoiled, brat!" She spat at me, standing up from the Jacuzzi, water dripping off her like blood dripping of something that had just rose up from the bloody heart of hell. With the expression on her face, I couldn't exactly say it was inaccurate. I stuck a sickly sweet smile onto my face.

"Of course, Sharpay," Slinking of into the kitchen, I grabbed a bottle of orange juice that had been lying skewiff on the counter and splashed some into a glass. In my haste, I splashed some onto my shirt. Brilliant, just, brilliant!

Snatching up the tall, frosty glass, I rushed it back to Sharpay. I didn't want to and for her, but I had an extra credit assignment waiting upstairs (not that I needed extra credit) and not very much time to do it in. I went back into the Jacuzzi room and handed her the glass. She gave it one look of distaste, and with one swift arm movement, threw its contents all over me. I stood there, dripping with the sweet orange liquid, licking some from around my lips, and glared at Sharpay.

"What the hell was that?" I spat, brows furrowed. What the hell was her problem?

"What did you just say to me?" she asked, jabbing her wet self in the chest.

"I said, what, the hell, was, that?" I yelled at her.

"Don't talk to me like that," She shouted back. This was getting very heated, very fast.

"I'll talk to you however the fuck I want!" The word escaped me before I'd even realised what I was saying. I never, ever swear like that. Sharpay's soggy arm snaked out from her side, and smacked me hard, across the face. I may have been a gentle soul, but I'm no doormat. I was not going to take that lying down now, was I? So I reached out and slid my nails down her face. It wasn't that hard, but this was Sharpay, grabbing me by the arms, she tugged sharply and sent me tumbling head first into the water. Legs either side, she held my face underwater, too long to be accidental, too short to do much harm. My sleeve was ripped, make-up smeared down my face making me look masculine. I shoved her down roughly, smacking her back lightly on the seat of the Jacuzzi. Ryan was sat behind her, creepy smile on his face, enjoying the chick fight. Who'd have ever thought that sweet, gentle Ryan would become such a perve? But then again, being with Sharpay from birth must have had some serious impact.

By the time we'd stopped fighting, Sharpay was sporting a couple of scratches, and her Dolce and Gabbana one-piece had snapped, leaving her immodest. I'd come off worst, being the smaller of the two. My sleeve had ripped along the hem, my nose was bloody and my cheek had gone red. I had been wearing a white t-shirt which had gone see-through, earning me more of Ryan's creepy grins, and him a slap upside the head from his twin sister. Shivering, I ran upstairs to my room, carefully avoiding Audrey, who was tanning on sun-bed out back. Ducking my head, I edged into my room. It wasn't exactly huge. I could touch both walls if I put my arms out straight, and the ceiling was too low for comfort. Lying on my bed, clothes off, with a towel underneath me, I reviewed my summer. Serving Sharpay and Ryan, working my ass off in the diner and on school work, trying to please the stupid cow out back. It's impossible. I'm a straight-A student, I'm in drama club, and I'm nice to everyone. So why does my life suck so much?

To the outside world we must look pretty happy. Pretty blonde mom, gorgeous skinny white girl, beautiful curvy Spanish girl, and a strong young man. Yeah, right! I've seen Sharpay making herself puke in her en-suite bathroom when I went to borrow shampoo. I've seen Ryan falling down drunk off Tattingers champagne from the club. And do not get me started on that plastic-covered, clip-on hair, ass-injected-lipped woman I have to call a mother. I have a mother. I have a family. They're just waiting for me somewhere else.