Chapter 1

"Mom what if the kids don't like me?" Gabriella asked her mom.

"Don't worry sweetie. They'll like you. Besides, you have Chad there," Her mom said.

"He's just a childhood friend. Doesn't mean he's going to protect me where ever I go."

"He's going to be there to watch you so you don't get hurt. And you're carpooling with him in his car after school from now on."

Gabriella whined to her mom. "You keep putting me and him together like we're a couple. News flash mom, we're not interested in each other. I like him as a brother and he likes me as a sister."

"His mom and I are just thinking about your future. He has good qualities. He's in the basketball team, he's doing okay in school, and he knows how to kickbox."

"So doesn't mean I like him more than a brother." Gabriella got out of her mom's 2009 Mercedes SUV before her mom could say something.

Gabriella looked at the school. East High . From the way everyone dresses, it looks like all the popular people from all over the U.S. gathers here at this school. She walks across the school parking lot when she bumps into someone.

"I'm sorry," the person said.

"It's okay. It's my fault too," Gabriella replied. When she took her book from the person's hand, she looked up and saw a pair of blue eyes. He's hot. She got up and thanked the guy.

"I'm Gabriella Montez." Gabriella held out her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Troy Bolton. Are you new?" Troy took her hand and shook it.

"Yeah. I just got here. Today's my first day."

"Well, I'll see you later. I got to go do some stuff."

"Okay. Bye." Gabriella turned around towards the school. He's really nice.

She walked to her homeroom, which was 10A. She looked up at the room number posted on the top of the door. She walks in to see a lot of people. She walks up to the teacher who was reading a fashion magazine.

"I'm Gabriella Montez. It's my first day today." The teacher looked up from her magazine, revealing a bad oversized shirt and a lot of beaded necklaces with really tight tights.

"You must be our new student. I'm Ms. Darbus." Gabriella took Ms. Darbus's hand and shook it.

"Pick any available seat you like." Gabriella goes to the back where there is an empty seat. She sits down and took out her Sidekick. She started texting her best friend from Los Angeles, Alicia. The bell rings and everyone is in their seat.

"Class, we have a new student here. Her name is Gabriella Montez." Gabriella stood up and introduced herself.

"My name is Gabriella Montez as you all know. I transferred here from Los Angeles. My dad is a publisher for some fashion magazine and my mom's an computer engineer. I'm into acting, singing, and dancing. Mostly acting." She looks around for people she knew. She sees Troy and smiles at him. He smiles back. Then she looked around for more people and saw her childhood friend, Chad. Chad waved his hand at her, but she couldn't wave back or people might think she's weird.

"Does anybody have questions for Miss Montez?" A blonde girl who looked like she owns all designer shot her hand up.

"Miss Evans?"

She looked at Gabriella and asked, "Who's your dad and where'd you get your bag? I'm Sharpay Evans, by the way."

"My dad's Richard Montez." Everyone gasped. He was the most popular fashion publisher of the U.S. He published most of the fashion magazines that exists today.

"And my dad has connections with his friends so that's how I got the purse."

"The purse is not even on sale yet until next month," Sharpay said. Everybody started whispering about how Gabriella is rich. Maybe even richer than Sharpay, the richest girl in school. Gabriella sat back down, humiliated that now everyone knows she's rich and that everyone is going to want to be her friend just because she's rich.

"Now class, settle down." Ms. Darbus hushes them when the bell rings. Everybody leaves, still whispering. Gabriella gathered her stuff when three girls walked up to her.

"So your dad is Richard Montez?" One of the girl asked. She immediately knew it was Sharpay.

"Yeah." Gabriella got up, looking at the door. Chad was waiting for her.

"I'm Sharpay Evans, as you know already. This is Taylor McKessie; she's part of the science and math department," Sharpay said, pointing to an African American girl who had her hair in a ponytail and had clothes that were designer but were last season's.

"And this is Kelsi Neilson. She's part of the music department. Like you said, you're interested in acting, singing, and dancing, so you can meet up with her later," Sharpay said, pointing to a small girl who had glasses and had sheet music in her hands.

"Well, nice to meet you guys. I got to go, but I'll talk to you guys later," Gabriella said, almost walking away when Sharpay stopped her.

"How about you sit at our table at lunch today and we'll discuss about stuff?" Sharpay offered.

"Sure. I'll see you at lunch then." Gabriella walked out the door, pulled by Chad.

"You're friends with Sharpay Evans?" Chad asked.

"I don't know. She just walked up to me and started asking me questions about my purse."

Chad nodded like he cared when he didn't. "So you like East High so far?"

Gabriella nodded. "It's cool so far. I thought I'd like to join some clubs."

Troy walks up to both of them. He thought Chad was flirting with another girl. But when he got closer, he saw it was Gabriella.

"Hey Chad. Hi Gabriella." Troy smiled when he said her name.

"Hi Troy," Gabriella said. Chad looks at them weirdly.

"You guys know each other?" Chad asked.

"Well, we bumped into each other this morning. How'd you know her?" Troy said.

"Her mom and my mom were best friends in college. She's like my childhood friend. We met like when she was born. And I was like one month old." Chad said. "Well, I gotta go. Free period's next and I want to work on my free throws. Bye Gabi." He hugged Gabriella and walked away. Troy followed him, saying bye before he leaves. Gabriella walks to find a library so she could study during free period.