Amazing Grace

Old Fiat

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: He'd felt lost for a long time, waiting for someone to help him find his way home. Troyella.

Note: Woot! I finally have a new story! It took me a while to find the right idea, but I think I've got a good one. I hope everyone enjoys this. It's a different spin on an idea that's been going around here for a while. I thought of it quite sometime ago with OFnFR, but decided to put it in story form two days ago while lying sick in bed and listening to non-stop My Chemical Romance. I know. Odd.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: It's Going Down

Troy fumbled with the buttons of his shirt as Jennifer gave a happily little moan and opened her eyes.

"That was wonderful..." she said, stretching and smiling at him.

"Yeah," said Troy, pulling a comb out of his pocket and fixing his hair in the full-length mirror hanging on the closet door. "Really great..."

The head cheerleader pushed some of her long blond hair out of her perfectly tan face. "So... Are we going to be a... thing?"

"Uh... Maybe..." Troy tucked the comb into the back pocket of his jeans and headed over to the door, preparing to leave. "See you."

"Bye..." Jennifer grinned at him dazedly as he walked out the door.

Troy tried to go down the steps as quietly as possible. The only angry dad he wanted to deal with that day was his own. Having safely made it down the stairs, he stepped out the the front door and went out to his car. He stuck the key in the lock and drove past the other neat suburban homes, all red from the sun just starting to come up over the horizon.

A glance at the clock on the dashboard showed that he had an hour and a half before his mother left for work and saw his car wasn't in the driveway. Of course, she might not care. It had never happened before but his behavior might have finally made her snap.

He pulled into the garage and let himself into the house. Trudging up the stairs without bothering to try and silence his steps, he went into his room. He should probably take a shower, but he didn't want to. He had one day left before he had to go back to school and he planned to sleep off any guilt for what he'd done before then.

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Gabriella was desperately out of breath by the time she reached her homeroom class. She was so late. She couldn't have detention on her first day, but it looked like it was unavoidable now. The principal, Mat... something, wouldn't stop talking to her for like, ten minutes and then he just pushed her into the hallway, expecting her to know her way around the school.

Quickly smoothing out her khaki skirt and lime green cotton blouse, she turned the handle and entered the classroom. All eyes were suddenly on her. Gabriella brushed a lock of chocolate brown hair out of her face.

The homeroom was obviously used for the drama class normally because the walls were draped with silk and velvet, the bookshelves were stocked with different scripts and screenplays and two masks-- one smiling and one frowning-- were hanging behind the teacher's desk.

Speaking of the teacher...

"Well! Here is a young lady who assumes that since it is the first day of school and it's still August, that we can all act as though we're still on vacation! Well Miss..."

Gabriella stared down at her shiny black slip-on shoes. "Gabriella Montez, ma'am."

"Miss Montez..." The teacher, an imposing gray-haired woman wrapped in what appeared to be some of the silk fabric from the wall, glanced down a clipboard on her desk. "Well, Miss Montez, since you've just moved to Albuquerque and are new to the layout of this establishment, I will give you a pass just this once. Tomorrow I expect you in here on time. Now sit." She pointed at a seat in the back.

"Yes ma'am," she said, walking down the space between the desks. Once she had sat down, Ms. Darbus, which was the teacher's name according to the plaque on her desk, continued her lecture.

"As I was saying-- we must reopen our minds to the joys of learning and the arts which we can practice with our fellow students. Speaking of the arts, auditions for the fall musicale will be Friday after next but I recommend you sign up as early as possible..."

Gabriella tuned her out, reading over her schedule. After the one-hundredth review of the timetable, she glanced at her watch and realized only ten minutes had passed. It was easy to forget over the summer that time always seemed to slow down in school buildings. She set the schedule on her desk and silently tested herself on its contents. She stared at the clock behind Ms. Darbus. So... she still had twenty-four minutes to kill until the end of this period. Gabriella wasn't usually one to not pay attention during class, but she was still feeling to sting of being made an example and couldn't bring herself to listen to her.

Lord! Was Ms. Darbus ever quiet? She was still monologuing despite the fact that ninety-nine percent of the students didn't appear to be listening. Gabriella looked around the class. Her eyes were instantly drawn to a boy sitting in the front row. She wouldn't have been able to see his face if it weren't the fact that he was gazing blankly out the window. His longish sandy brown hair fell over his eyes. As he stared out at the green campus lawns, he gnawed at his round pink lips. He obviously wasn't listening to Ms. Darbus.

Gabriella usually wasn't distracted by boys. She considered them to be just people, like her and yet she could take her eyes off the young man as he drummed her fingers along his desk, creating a deep, smooth rhythm. He breathed slowly, eyes sliding in and out of focus.

She was pulled out of her daydreaming when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned to see a young, African-American girl smile at her.

"So, you're new here?" the girl whispered, a wide smile on her face. Gabriella nodded, looking worriedly towards the front of the class to make sure Ms. Darbus hadn't heard them. "Where are you from?"

"Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally," Gabriella stated as softly as she could.

"Neat." The girl grinned, showing dazzlingly white teeth. "My name is Taylor McKessie. I'm the president of the Scholastic Decathlon team. What teams are you thinking of joining?"

"I-I don't know..." Gabriella said, trying to smile but continuing to watch Ms. Darbus.

"Well, what are your hobbies?" asked Taylor. It didn't surprise Gabriella that she was the president of the decathlon team. She had known those kinds of people very well in her old school and briefly been one of their number. Taylor dressed like a politician in a crisp blazer, an neutral a-line skirt and shiny black loafers and held herself with the air of confidence usually possessed by those who know they will almost always be one the most intelligent person in a room full of their peers.

"Um... I belonged to the choir at my old school and... yeah... I was on the Physics, Chemistry and Math club too."

Taylor's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah." Gabriella nodded, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders.

"Well," Taylor said with a little shrug of her shoulders. "You might want to try out for the team."

"Thanks."

Taylor turned back towards the front of the room Gabriella brought her gaze back to the boy who was no longer looking out the window but was turned away-- she guessed he was now pretending to listen to Ms. Darbus, fingers still tapping the edge of his desk.

She was still watching him when the bell rang signaling the end of class. Jumping up from her desk, Gabriella grabbed her backpack and began to file out of the classroom with the rest of the students. Taylor followed her out into the hallway and looked at her schedule in her hand.

"Wow!" she said, walking along side the new student who was suddenly confused.

"What?" asked Gabriella as she pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket with her locker number and combination, shoving the schedule back in her bag and feeling her cheeks burn.

"You're signed up for a bunch of different classes. Hey Sharpay."

A blond, haughty girl joined them. She had a long straight nose to match her long straight hair and sparkling brown eyes.

"Hello Taylor." She smiled at her half-friend, half-sparring partner and set her eyes on Gabriella. "So you're the new student?"

"Uh-huh," said Gabriella, trying to give the girl a smile as wide and bright and hers. "I moved here from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with my mom."

"Cool," said Sharpay and then back to talk rapidly to Taylor about the summer holidays. Gabriella wasn't sure if Sharpay was a real name, but then again, Sharpay didn't seem like a real girl. Her clothes all looked like the clothes you'd find on a Barbie-- not particularly high-fashion items, but fairly flattering and very trendy. Her make up seemed as though it must've been put on her face by a professional crew. She strutted down the hallway in pitch black high heels without a single wobble of her ankles, as the hoards of students parted like the red sea so she could walk through. She, like Gabriella and Taylor, had chosen to wear a skirt to the first day of school, but hers was a tiny pink pleather mini. Her hair streamed behind her as she walked and her arms swung by her thin torso, covered with a close cut black button up shirt with design embroidered on the sleeves with silver thread.

Behind Sharpay walked a thin, blond boy with pale skin and dark eyebrows, eyelashes and lips whom Gabriella realized was the only student in homeroom who had been listening to Ms. Darbus' continuous preaching. He had slightly sunken eyes which were a warm gray-blue. Perched on top of his short, naturally spiky hair was a red fedora with a black strap. He wore a simple but perfectly white button up shirt made of crisp cotton, black trousers and bright red dance shoes. As the group veered to the right side of the hallway for Gabriella to sort out her locker, she saw the the shirt's cuff were held with little silver cuff links and the black strap of the hat was edged with silver.

He caught Gabriella's eye and gave her a smile-- a small, shy, sweet smile. She grinned back.

"Hey Gabriella," said Taylor, grabbing her attention once more.

"Yeah?" asked Gabriella, turning away from the blond boy.

"Will you be able to find your way to your next class?"

"Uh... Just let me see where the English room..." Gabriella consulted the map printed on the back of the schedule, but Sharpay was impatient.

"Ryan," she said in a loud voice, calling the attention of not only Ryan, but several other students as well. "Stay here with Gabriella and take her to her English class. You're in the same one."

"Alright." The boy watched Sharpay and Taylor leave before staring at Gabriella as she placed some of her books into her locker, something she had not had time to do before. "So, you're from Philadelphia?"

"Yeah," said Gabriella, shuffling through her bag. "I've already said that twice today. Three times, actually."

"I used to live in Rhode Island," said Ryan, still smiling placidly. "The East Coast is nice, isn't it?"

Gabriella nodded as she placed some of her books on the upper shelf of her locker. "Yeah, it is."

"Why'd you move to Albuquerque?" he asked, leaning against a nearby locker.

This was the question Gabriella had been hoping no one would ask. "My... um... my mom got a job here and so we decided to move." She hoped she didn't seem too cold. Ryan seemed nice-- a little spacey, but nice. She smiled, hoping to soften her statement, but still deflect any further questions.

Ryan got the message. Nodding, he asked, "What's your mom's job?"

"She's... um..." She dug through her bag for anything else she could remove from the over-stuffed sac. "She's a nuclear technician."

"Cool!" said Ryan, his eyes lighting up with what seemed to be genuine enthusiasm. "My father is a big CEO or whatever. I dunno..." His voice trailed off and he blinked a few times, eyes down towards his shoes. She watched his expression carefully, worried he himself hand begun talking about an emotional topic, but he didn't appear at all upset. He just stared down at his feet and Gabriella realized he was expecting her to say something.

"That's really neat!" she said, stretching her lips into a smile and closing her locker.

He gave a funny little grin, like he wasn't sure if he should be complimented for what his father did. "Thanks," he said softly. Then continuing in a louder tone, "What clubs are you planning to join? Me and Sharpay are co-presidents of the Drama Club."

"Wow," said Gabriella as they walked through the mob of students. "I don't really know yet..."

"Well you have to join something. It's school rules that you have to be involved in at least one club or extra-curricular activity. I don't think you can get around it unless you have a slip from a parent or doctor or something."

"I'll look into some stuff," she smiled at him. "Thanks for the heads-up. Principal Matsui didn't tell me that earlier which seems amazing because, I mean, he spoke to me for what seemed like an eternity."

Ryan laughed loudly as the two of them arrived outside the English room. He pushed open the door and held it for her.

"Thanks," she said, slipping past him. He winked and made a bee-line for a desk which she assumed was unofficially 'his'. She sat down in a desk at the back and glanced at the clock, suddenly wishing she had eaten breakfast this morning despite her fluttery stomach.

The teacher entered a few moments later and, once most of the desks had been filled, began her lesson.

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Gabriella was relieved when the lunch bell rang. Collecting her bag, she moved as quickly as possible between her other classmates, none of whom were Ryan, Sharpay or Taylor. As she pushed her way out of the crowded door way, she found herself suddenly crashing into the person who had exited directly before her.

"Frickin' klutz..." groaned the male, sitting up from his new position on the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" she said, picking up the one or two items that had fallen out of her bag. She looked at the boy and received a shock when she saw the boy from her homeroom. His face was now a flawless portrayal of annoyance rather than the daydreaming expression she'd seen him wear earlier. She saw he had blue eyes, the brightest she'd ever seen.

He grinned as he saw her stare at him. Mischief played over his face. Rising, he offered her his hand.

"You want help?" he asked, the smirk still in place. She didn't like the look of that smirk. It seemed... naughty, like he was mentally undressing her at that very moment.

"Thank you," she said, taking the offered extremity, and felt a small jolt run up her arm, as though she'd just been mildly electrocuted. "Excuse me." She turned from him and walked in what she hoped was the right direction to go to the cafeteria.

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Wow! More than two thousand words! I hope you all liked this. I know not much happened in this chapter, but the proper set-up for the plot begins in the next, so just hold on for a bit! XD

Anyway, thanks! And please, please review! Or else I seriously won't continue this.

Yours,

-Old Fiat s. Italy