Happy Christmas all and welcome to my new story! If you've read my profile you'll know where the idea comes from and just to let you all know this is a little slower paced in places, but please stick with it. The rating is T but may change to M depending on what happens J! As always share your thoughts with me? Anyway on with the show! Tink. XX

By early 1621, the Pilgrims had built crude huts and a common house on the shores of Plymouth Bay. Soon neighboring Indians began to build relations with the Pilgrims. Squanto, a local Indian who had been kidnapped and taken to England nearly a decade before, served as an interpreter with the local tribes. Squanto taught the Pilgrims to fertilize the soil with dried fish remains to produce a stellar corn crop- "Gabriella! Gabriella!"

Gabriella Montez turned her head sideways, looking up from the notes she was taking on the first thanksgiving and glanced at the petite brunette who hissed her name, avoiding the steely gaze of their history teacher Mr. Mathis.

"What?" she mouthed, glancing around, making sure she wasn't seen.

"You have to see this" Kelsi Neilson whispered, indicating to the magazine she held in her hand disguised as a history book.

Gabriella shook her head hurriedly "Kels, we're supposed to be studying"

Kelsi grinned at her best friend, who looked at her with worried, guilty eyes "I know, but this is important" she hissed back.

Gabriella sighed and knowing she would not get any studying done until Kelsi was satisfied, she lifted her hand to beckon her over. With a quick look Kelsi left her seat across the table and plonked herself down next to Gabriella, smiling wickedly.

"What's so important you have to interrupt my essay? You do know it's due next week?" she pointed out a little testily.

Kelsi rolled her eyes at her friend and placed the magazine down on her notebook.

"Read this…. then you can thank me" she giggled, her green eyes twinkling.

Gabriella looked down and silently began to read, as she did a slight smile spread across her features and she looked at friend coyly.

"Told you" Kelsi singsonged.

"Okay you were right, it's exciting" Gabriella admitted quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself.

"That's it? Just exciting? That's all you have to say?"

Gabriella shrugged lightly, embarrassed "Alright it's amazing"

"I don't get you Gabi…you proclaim to be Troy Bolton's biggest fan yet when you find out he's coming to Albuquerque, you don't even raise an eyebrow"

"Kels, I have studying to do" she said softly, feeling agitated that she was talking when she was supposed to be engaged in silent study.

"Gabriella Montez…you find out that Troy Bolton, "the hotness" is coming to Albuquerque to shoot his latest movie and all you wanna do is study …I thought you'd be putting that brain of yours to good use, planning how we can get to see him"

"Look Kelsi, it's probably just a rumor…you know how they start, first it's on Just Jared and then the tabloids pick it up-," she whispered, her heart sinking as a stern voice interrupted her.

"Montez! Neilson! I said silent study…I have just spent the last two minutes watching you openly chat, now that's enough" he snapped, standing behind them, his face set.

Mortified Gabriella flushed and nodded, praying he would walk away.

Fate it seemed was not on her side when he looked over shoulder and picked the magazine from her notebook as though it was something disgusting.

"This is what you were doing in my lesson? Reading this tripe? Teen heartthrob Troy Bolton comes to Albuquerque…. Class detention the pair of you-"

"What?" Gabriella gasped, sharing a look with Kelsi "But Mr. Mathis I-"

"Enough!" he wrote out the sanction slip "Take this to detention, both of you and I want you to complete your notes for tomorrow's lesson…now go!"

Gabriella got to her feet slowly, the shame of mortification burning on her cheeks and she blushed red, aware of the stares of her classmates as she gathered her belongings. Kelsi followed suit shooting evil looks at Mr. Mathis as she went. The pair left the room and headed down to the auditorium where class detention was being held this period.

"Kelsi I can't believe you got us into this" Gabriella muttered as they walked along the hallway.

Kelsi sighed guiltily knowing her friend was upset, Gabriella was an honor student and being placed in detention was a big deal for her.

"Gab, I'm sorry…really I just thought you would be stoked to find out about Troy Bolton, it's not every day a movie shoot comes to town, I couldn't keep it to myself…we so have to find out where it's being shot…Oh My God we could be in it…. we could be in Fame Academy 3…we could be extras…Gabriella will you please try and get a little excited!" she cried, her arms flailing wildly as she talked.

" I am excited really I am, you know I think he's hot but Kels there is a time and a place for everything…. I can't believe this, me! In detention! Will this be on my permanent record?"

Kelsi snorted and smiled at her friend "Gabriella, it's not that bad, really, if Darbus is on, it can be kinda fun, there's usually something goin on with Drama Club"

"You say that like you've done this before"

Kelsi shrugged as they pushed open the door of the auditorium and the sound of familiar music filled their ears "Where do you think I write all my best pieces?"

Gabriella followed Kelsi nervously into the room and looked about her, expecting to see disillusioned students, heads down, working. Instead what she saw made her shake her head in wonder. A small group of students were gathered around a piano, singing, smiling as a larger than life teacher hummed along with them, moving her arms as though conducting an invisible orchestra.

Gabriella recognized her as the Drama teacher Ms Darbus, dressed as usual in one of many long colorful Kaftans. She let her gaze fall around the room, spotting the groups of student huddled in corners, running lines, going over dance steps, all animated, all having fun.

"This is detention?" she asked Kelsi, who smirked at the expression on awe on Gabriella's face.

"C'mon in, don't be shy" Kelsi encouraged, as they walked towards the piano where Ms Darbus and the students were running the song again.

"Ah Ms Neilson, we see you again and what's this, Ms Montez? What are you doing in detention?" Ms Darbus asked, looking down her glasses at the girls.

"I, there, there was a mix up in class" she mumbled, embarrassed at woman's the gentle teasing.

"Well now you're here we best make use of you…do you sing Ms Montez?"

"S-Sing? No" Gabriella shook her head so forcefully her midnight curls bounced around her face, her cheeks flaming.

Kelsi rolled her eyes and nudged her friend "Stop being so modest Gabriella, she has a great voice Ms Darbus"

Gabriella wanted to sink into the floor as Ms Darbus eyed her speculatively "Miss Montez, perhaps you would favor us with a song, you are in fact on detention and detention involves sanctions… I think to give you lines would frankly be a waste of time, something tells me you would enjoy it " Ms Darbus said but her eyes were twinkling, clearly amused by the petite girl in front of her.

"But I thought I would only have to finish my notes…isn't that what usually happens?"

"Indeed it is but in my detentions we like to do things with a little more flair, a little more creativity…perhaps you could run some lines with Kelsi for our spring musicale" she said with an artistic flourish of her arms.

Gabriella nodded, relieved to be out of the spotlight for a while, aware of people watching her curiously, aware of the whispers "is that really Gabriella Montez…on detention?"

"But Ms Darbus I really need to go over these songs" Kelsi turned beseeching eyes on Gabriella "please Gab, I really, really need the practice"

Gabriella looked around her at the small group of students who were all smiling and nodding encouragingly, she felt a little silly but she knew Kelsi wanted her to.

"N, not by myself" she mumbled, embarrassed.

"We'll all join in, okay?" she said with a grateful smile and began to rummage around in her bag for the lyrics and within seconds was handing them to Gabriella. She glanced down at them, smiling a little as she recognized the words to one of the songs from her favorite musical.

"Hairspray? You're doing Hairspray this semester?"

Kelsi nodded and rolled her eyes as she sat down at the piano "Geez Gab, where have you been all year…have you listened to anything I've said to you for the last few weeks?" Kelsi asked sounding a little hurt.

"I'm sorry Kels, it slipped my mind" she lied, feeling guilty. The truth was she had so much homework to do, she didn't really think too much about other people's extra curricular activities. Her life revolved around school and studying, it had been her mom's dream for her to go Stanford as long as she could remember and as a result she felt as though she studied constantly.

"Hmm well, you can just make it up to me by letting me use you as a guinea pig…we'll take it from the top okay everyone" she looked at the students around her who nodded and shuffled closer. Gabriella watched them from the corner of her eye, wondering if they were looking at her, she hated to be stared at. Although she loved to sing she was only comfortable in the privacy of her car or at home.

As the familiar notes began, Gabriella forced herself to take a deep breath and when everyone began to sing, so did she, all the time looking around furtively to see who was watching her, judging her.

After only a few lines of "You can't stop the Beat" it became apparent that nobody was paying her much attention and she felt herself begin to relax, not even relying on the sheet music given to her by Kelsi. All around her people were singing, smiling, moving in time with the music and suddenly Gabriella felt an odd sense of exhilaration and freedom, she was singing in public and nobody was bothered, nobody was looking at her, everybody else was too busy having a good time. It was the most uplifting experience of her life. Singing with others made her feel as though she was part of something, something bigger than herself, something other than her school work. By the time the last verse and chorus came around, Gabriella was singing loudly, confidently, moving in time with the beat just like the others. She had never felt so alive.

From her place against the stage Ms Darbus watched Gabriella, as she sang timidly, quietly, darting frequent looks about her to make sure no one was staring, that no one was laughing at her. She stood with her shoulders dropping, a little hunched, clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable. But then as the song progressed something had changed. Ms Darbus had smiled to herself as Gabriella's confidence grew, her singing stronger, more focused, her voice carrying above the others, her enthusiasm and excitement visible in the happy flush on her cheeks as she moved somewhat self consciously with the beat.

Miss Montez it seemed was something of a dark horse, one of the most charismatic performers she had seen in a long while and if all the roles hadn't been filled, Ms Darbus would have demanded Gabriella audition. The young latina was pretty in a bookish, understated way and would make a fine leading lady if she could just overcome her nerves. In fact it was on the tip of her tongue to place Gabriella as an understudy but she couldn't do that without seeing her act or dance and she felt Gabriella wasn't quite ready to run when she had only just found her feet.

As the song drew to a close Ms Darbus rose to her feet and crossed the room to stand behind Gabriella.

"Bravo, Brava" she cried, clapping her hands together "It seems Miss Montez you are something of a dark horse" she told her, giving voice to her earlier thoughts.

Gabriella smiled and ducked her head shyly "Thank you…. I enjoyed it"

"Ah you did? Well perhaps we could find room for you in our chorus line, maybe a detention kid? Seems appropriate don't you think?" she said with a little laugh.

Gabriella was about to shake her head no, when something stopped her. All her school life was based around academia; she had no "fun" activities. Her entire life revolved around studying and homework, she had nothing to give her a break. Perhaps being in the musical would give her something else to focus on, something to take her mind off her studies when it all became too much and it was only in the chorus line after all, it wouldn't be too demanding.

Kelsi looked at her friend and nodded enthusiastically "You should do this Gab, it'd be great fun"

Gabriella tilted her head "I'm not sure Kels, I have so much homework, I don't know if I'd have time and there's my mom, I don't know what she would say"

"You can get extra credit…your mom couldn't possibly object to that and think how cool it would look on your Stanford application." Kelsi said dangling the Stanford carrot in front of her indecisive friend.

She took a deep breath and then nodded hesitantly "Um okay, if you think I'd be any good"

Ms Darbus could hear the uncertainty in her voice and she smiled at the girl "Miss Montez I think you would grace any stage you set yourself on, whether it be academic or creative…perhaps when you feel ready we could discuss the possibility of you becoming one of our understudies…you have such a beautiful voice it would be a shame not to use it"

Gabriella felt herself blushing again, aware now of the stares of the people around her, her an understudy?

Ms Darbus clapped her hands, her kaftan billowing as she did so "Attention everyone" she began, waiting for the general noise and chitter chatter to die down "I would like to announce a new addition to our cast… Miss Montez has kindly agreed to be in the chorus…detention kid it is"

Gabriella glanced around her afraid of being laughed at but nobody was laughing at her, in fact they were all smiling bemusedly and nodding. She saw no censure or mockery just acceptance and she felt herself relax a little.

"Think how much fun we can have" Kelsi said softly, excitedly and Gabriella nodded with an excited giggle agreeing with her friend. It was time for her to have some fun. Singing had given her a feeling that textbooks could not, and all she had to do was follow that feeling and see where it took her.