Sharpay was entertaining to say the least. In the past few minutes she had managed to chatter out every single detail of her life in Albuquerque the past three years. She had also given Gabriella the set of East High social rules that every student in the school followed. These rules included never ignore guys, find your niche in the school, join—or at least watch—the musicals (this particular point made Gabriella even more suspicious that the rules were made by Sharpay and only she knew about them), and adore Troy.
"Who's Troy?" Gabriella asked, her mind flashing back to New Year's Eve for if her memory served her right the boy she had met there had a very similar name.
"Only the hottest upcoming basketball player in the school, resident of this very homeroom!" Sharpay's voice has become even more delighted if that was possible.
"So he's basically a good-looking jock, common enough," personally, Gabriella had never knew anyone close who was a jock type. Her friendship groups always seemed to revolve around academics and sometimes music. She did watch basketball and football games on TV occasionally though, largely because of her older brother's love for those particular sports.
Sharpay shook her head furiously. "His dad's the coach and this school runs on basketball pride," she explained in an all-knowing tone. Gabriella giggled. Sharpay made this boy sound like a NBA superstar celebrity of some sort instead of a regular high school guy who loved his sport. Either way, she made for a perfect fan girl.
"He's not just a jock though," Sharpay continued, "everybody loves him for his personality, he just makes you happy." She smiled at Gabriella who looked skeptical at such a description of a high school basketball star, "honest."
Gabriella laughed, "I'll believe you when I see the proof, how can somebody be so angelic as well as a basketball star?"
The thespian girl rolled her eyes. "Stop being so cynical, there are a lot of great all-rounded people with good personality as well as academic and athletic excellence. Not everybody who is ultra good at something focuses on that particular thing every minute of the day, it works well too when you're talking about stress relieving. I should know, I used to spend so much time in rehearsals, was all tense." She shuddered, now that she knew what relaxation felt like, she would never give it up.
"I can't help it," Gabriella shrugged, "I want to do everything perfect, I can't settle for anything less. It's like I feel guilty whenever I stray off focus."
"That's exactly why you need to relax! Learn to fly Gabi!" She exclaimed. When Gabriella looked at her strangely, wondering why her friend was using such a cliché saying, Sharpay put her hands together in a clap, "that's it, today's Thursday, tomorrow after school I am giving you a crash course in proper high school girl life."
The dark haired petite girl let out a sigh. "Fine, fine, whatever it takes to calm you down."
"Calm me down? I can't be calmed down right now, your crash course is starting now!" Sharpay started to speak extraordinarily fast. Apparently, this time she was not just giving the low down on East High life, instead, she was explaining the basics of teenage girl life in general.
"So why are you telling me this now instead of in one go tomorrow?" You would think that after all these years, she would have gotten the hang of Sharpay's character.
"Because you have to know this stuff ASAP!" Sharpay retorted.
"Okay, okay, continue," Gabriella leaned back in her chair and let her friend ramble, she could not think of any other way to handle the situation.
Sharpay's animated movements suddenly stopped. Then she hyperventilated. This caused Gabriella to stare at her strangely. "Is there something wrong Sharpay?" she asked, simultaneously concerned and amused. There were times when Sharpay had well-founded reasons for her shock attacks but other times, her reasons could be priceless to listen to.
Although she already sported a perfect appearance, Sharpay frantically patted down invisible creases in her light pink outfit and fluffed her wavy blonde hair as Gabriella watched and waited patiently for an explanation. Sharpay's pocket mirror was whipped out to double check make up and every few seconds she would whip her head up to look at a point somewhere behind Gabriella before she went back to dealing with her look of a high maintenance girl. "Remember Troy Bolton?" She stage whispered across the desk.
"Yes, we were talking about him a minute ago…" Gabriella answered in a normal voice as she prodded her friend for elaboration.
"Shhh, he's walking over here, directly towards us!" She told Gabriella, seemingly agitated over simple fact.
"And that is worthy of this frantic attack because…" Gabriella cocked her head to one side questioningly.
"Didn't you hear what I said before? He's the guy of the class!" Sharpay tried to press the importance of the event to Gabriella with surprisingly more success for the new girl's shyer side was showing itself.
"Oh goodness, I can't talk to him in my first hour at East High," she said, worried at how she would appear to this supposedly respect-worthy boy.
Sharpay smiled, she knew Gabriella would fit in anyway. "Don't worry, you already talked with Matt right?" Gabriella shot her a look to ask how she knew about the conversation with Matt but Sharpay ignored her. "Look, you'll be fine, I was freaking out a moment ago too, it's natural. Act natural."
Well Sharpay's there so I can use her as an excuse for conversation, what should I say… Troy pondered as he carefully avoided the random props that had fallen on the floor from shelves as he approached the desk by the window. He chuckled when he realized "Sharpay" was doodled with big loopy handwriting and stars all over the table. He looked up at the best dressed girl herself and saw her whisper something to the girl with her back towards him.
"Hey Sharpay," he smiled at his friend, "how was your vacation?"
The two girls startled in their chairs. Troy was standing right between them although he was reaching for a spare chair to sit in. When she recovered from her start, Sharpay replied, "it was good thanks, and yours Bolton?"
Troy grinned, "amazing," he answered simply.
Sharpay quirked her eyebrows at him, optimistic boy seemed to have got even happier in the weeks she had not seen him. She was curious, Troy had told her once that he as much as he loved the sport, he did not enjoy spending every single moment of his breaks on the court. Yet, he had said that was his schedule for the December break, so why was he so especially happy? "Something you need to tell me?"
"Not before you introduce me to your friend here," he nodded towards the girl who had so far hidden herself behind her long locks, "I'm quite sure anybody who is your friend can't be all that bad."
"I'm flattered," Sharpay told Troy, "well then, Gabi, this is—"
"Troy Bolton, nice to meet you," he beamed as Gabriella shook her hair away to reveal herself.
Time to be brave and not shy, you dealt well with Matt didn't you? Gabriella looked up at the brown haired boy. She stared at the familiar baby blue eyes and gasped softly. She could not believe her destiny had come to this. "Hi?" she questioned more than stated.
Being slightly more prepared than Gabriella was for this encounter, Troy just chuckled. "Nobody uses the 'nice to meet you' greeting anymore do they?" He finally sat down, "I feel like I've seen you before though…" he trailed off with a nervous chuckle.
Gabriella still could not find her voice. Here, sitting right beside her with a smile was the blue eyed boy she had been dreaming about since her fairytale night. She forgot about the curious blonde sitting across her, Troy's group of friends talking among themselves on the other side of the room, and the classroom clock that indicated homeroom period would end in three minutes. What was she supposed to say in reply to his introduction?
She echoed his nervous chuckle, although hers was more of a giggle, "ehhh, maybe.. were you by any chance in Michigan this Christmas?"
"Mmhmm," he nodded, "was there with family, ski resort with awesome snowboarding and New Year's party, why?" he gave a small smile to Gabriella.
Taking a rare chance, she replied, "your showerhead is proud of your singing, am I right?" By this time, Sharpay was thoroughly confused as well as intrigued. Why was Gabriella relating what seemed like an inside joke? She was then astonished to hear a fun laugh coming from Troy.
"Yes, you are Gabriella Montez I assume?" Sharpay's eyes widened, she was quite sure nobody had told Troy Gabriella's last name.
"Yep, so sorry I had to rush off that night, but I guess whoever the god of coincidences is wanted this…" She pushed her naturally wavy hair behind her ear, now Troy could see her face unobstructed. It sure was pretty.
Sharpay chose this moment to interrupt, "wait a minute, you guys know each other?" She asked, looking back and forth between the pair sitting opposite her before she turned to Gabriella, "you were asking who he was just a moment ago!"
Troy raised an eyebrow, "oh so you were talking about me?"
Gabriella jerked, "no no no, Sharpay was just giving me an overall introduction to the class, nothing in particular," she covered up. She did not want Troy to know her insecurities and what Sharpay had told her, however nice and genuine he appeared to be.
"Answer me!" Sharpay half yelled, causing her two friends next to her to start in their seats and tell her to hush. In a quieter voice she continued, "how the hell do you two know each other?"
Back to her nervous self, Gabriella stuttered, "um uh er… over the vacation, I was um at the you know, I was at the ski, yeah the ski…"
"The ski resort in Michigan, amazing place. New Year's party, karaoke, met Gabriella there," Troy purposely cut down the explanation, it was simpler this way. After all, that was a rather private experience, to him at least. He did not know about Gabriella but from the way she had been stumbling before he interrupted her, he guessed she did not quite want to tell everybody either.
"Gabi, why didn't you say anything, you met Troy!" Gabriella shrugged while Troy was just amused at Sharpay's reaction. It honestly wasn't such a big deal. He looked behind his shoulders to check the clock, the bell would ring in forty-five seconds (yes, the clocks were that accurate and synchronized). He should probably head back to Chad and the others before going to first period.
"So great to see you again Gabriella, I'll be seeing you around I think and you're always welcome to sit with me and my friends at lunch," he glanced over at Sharpay, "you probably will anyway, since ice queen over there seems to want to lead you around and she's with us. I have to go now, bell's going to ring in a second, bye!" He walked back the way he came, only pausing to wave at Gabriella who sat there, lost for words.
Sharpay was right, Troy was a nice guy in every single way, you couldn't help but like him more for it. When she had to leave the resort all those days ago she thought she would never see the brown haired blue eyed boy again, but here he was, in her new school, making himself her friend. She didn't have much choice right now but to follow his lead, at least it will be nice to get close to a key persona in the school. First though, she had to get through this first day at East High. Academics first, friendships and romance second.
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While Troy walked across the room and talked to the two girls, his main group of friends hung back around their desks to relax before they headed off to their various classes. For most of them, this was the only good thing about coming to school, getting to have maximum time with friends.
Chad yawned. It was barely eight o'clock and he had been up since six thirty, rushing to the bus stop at six forty-five. First day back and he hated the early wake up time again. Plus, he was bored, the girls were gossiping about who-knows-what, Troy was being suspicious, not chilling with him, and the rest of the guys were discussing the NBA standings. Chad had been talking about the NBA so much that he was actually sick of it, which was weird, but Chad himself would admit that he is a weird person.
"Chad, CHAD," Taylor stopped her boyfriend's daydreaming, "what do you think Troy's doing?"
"What, talking to the new girl? I dunno, maybe he thinks she's cute, which she is by the way," Taylor shot him a quick look at this, then resumed observing Troy with Sharpay and Gabriella
"But he's not really the type to decide in the first few minutes that he sees a girl that he wants to be good friends with her," Taylor continued her analysis of the situation. "And anyway, how does Sharpay know Gabriella? They look quite close."
"Who knows? She transferred here three years ago right? Maybe she knew the girl, Gabriella you said her name is? Gabriella, before she came. Or she could be her new next door neighbor," Chad said.
Chad had a point, Taylor thought. Sharpay never really divulged much of her past life with them. All they knew was that her father's business, Lava Springs, had expanded to Albuquerque so she had moved here. They also knew that she was extremely well-off and loved theater but that was about it. She never mentioned friends or other interests.
"Well, I hope Troy knows what he's doing," Taylor commented.
"It's Troy, he'll be fine, even if he's not, he'll just laugh it off, not much use worrying about what he does," he smiled, that was the great thing about his best friend. He never needed much attention for he could handle himself very well while spending his life laughing with his friends. Twelve years of being best friends had also taught Chad that Troy was beyond smart and fun, honestly, if he was not, they would not be such good friends. Chad would never be acceptable friends with someone who did not know fun.
"Chad, you should know me by now, I like to keep track of everybody, especially those who have a great influence on the class and those we're close to. Troy fits in both categories and I have a feeling Gabriella soon will too," she observed Sharpay's confused expression while Troy was happy and Gabriella just seemed shy like she was when she was talking to Taylor outside.
Chad laughed, that was so his girlfriend. He leaned up to kiss her on the cheek and settled in his chair to get a bit of shut eye for a few minutes. As he checked the clock again, he groaned though when he realized homeroom was almost up. Thirty seconds, Troy was getting up and heading back towards them, twenty seconds, Chad noticed he had a big smile on his face, ten seconds, a satisfied smile no less.
Dong, dong, dong.
There the bell went. As per habit, everybody in the room grabbed their bags and got up at the same time to head out the door. Chad and Taylor got up as well as Troy reached underneath his desk beside them to get his textbook full bag. As the three led the rest of the gang out the door, Troy stayed silent, seemingly deep in thought.
"So guys, what classes do you have first period? I have English" Martha spoke up. Everybody reached out for their schedules to check.
"Math," Ryan replied, sighing. It certainly wasn't his favorite subject.
"Same here," Kelsi said, looking over at the blonde haired boy, smiling. She looked back down when the smile was returned, her heart pumping.
"History for me," Jason said and looked over at Chad's paper, "hey, you have it too, same room even, now I don't have to worry about being bored," Chad laughed along with him.
Taylor sighed at the boys, she seemed to do that quite a bit. "I have English too, Martha, I don't get why we our schedules have to change completely every semester, isn't every year enough?"
"This school doesn't make sense," Zeke offered, "well, not a lot of sense anyway."
The friends laughed, he spoke the truth but they all loved East High anyway. Basketball crazy, run on school pride, and with a haywire schedule and lunchtime, it was still their home and everybody loves their home. Everybody normal, that is.
Kelsi glanced beside her at Troy who hadn't made a sound and was still contemplating. She nudged him. "What's up?" she whispered. Troy wasn't usually this quiet, especially when around his good friends.
Troy looked at her, "oh nothing really," seeing her skeptical expression, "I'm fine, honest, you know what, I'll catch up with you guys later." With that he left an open-mouthed Kelsi as he jogged around a corner, presumably to his class. What Kelsi did not see was that he had been tracking Sharpay and had run to her to talk with her a bit more.
Kelsi turned towards the rest of them with a confused look that was shared by many. Maybe this wasn't going to be the typical second semester they had been expecting after all. Not with their leading friend being all mysterious. Thoughts were everywhere as they promised to meet up at lunch before they split up to their respective classes.
A/N Hey guys! So sorry for being a week late, I might have to start updating every two weeks instead of one, might being the key word. Thank you so much for reading and supporting this. It means a lot now that I'm settling into it more. Again, feedback much appreciated. Love, Pam.