Plot
Close up of Troy Bolton in the middle of the big championship game against the West High Knights basketball team. The buzzer sounds, and East High is down. The Wildcats sulk back to their locker room, but Coach Bolton tells the team to ignore the x's and o's. There are only sixteen minutes left in this game, and only 16 minutes left for the seniors to wear a Wildcats basketball uniform. Troy and Chad then lead the team out, to the song "Now or Never". They win, to thunderous applause and with Troy actually drawing the attention of the rival team away before passing to sophomore Jimmie "The Rocket" Zara for the final basket.
Troy and Chad are next seen pushing Troy's smoking pickup truck in front of Troy's house, where a huge party is being held to celebrate the Wildcat win. Troy's dad introduces him to the coach of the basketball team at the University of Albuquerque, and everybody seems to accept that both Troy and Chad will be going there in September. Jimmie pops up to show Troy the photo he took of Troy's room, but Troy dodges everyone to take Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) up to his tree house. In the tree house, Troy sings "Right Here, Right Now" with Gabriella, where both affirm that wherever their futures take them, their hearts are together. Gabriella finds some old toys that Troy left in the tree house, but the pair finally leave when Troy's mom threatens to come up to bring them down.
The following day, Sharpay arrives in standard style at East High, separating students with a wave of her hand as her tasseled high heeled boots click clack down the hall. She asks Troy, "When's the big game?" without noticing that Zeke and the other basketball members are placing the new trophy in the cabinet behind her, and saying, "Good luck," after Troy explains that the game was yesterday. Sharpay proceeds to her double locker, pausing to kiss her snow globe with the photo of her dog before noticing the girl behind her. "What are you?" she snaps. The girl explains that she is Tiara Gold (Jemma McKenzie-Brown) and she is applying to be Sharpay's personal assistant. After proving that she knows Sharpay's schedule and preferences already, Sharpay accepts Tiara, remarking that she likes Tiara's British accent.
In homeroom, Miss Darbus is sitting on the throne while checking attendance, before letting Taylor address the group. She mentions that seniors can get their prom tickets from Martha Cox, and also talks about handing in yearbook photos and other activities. Chad tries to tease her by asking what's the lunch special, to which Taylor has an answer. Miss Darbus then asks Sharpay to outline her plans for the "spring musicale", and Sharpay says that with all the activities taking so much time for everyone, she thought maybe it should be a one-woman show. Kelsi immediately starts writing at great speed on a clipboard, and when Miss Darbus asks if sign-ups are that light, Kelsi replies that no, there's a good turnout, actually. Miss Darbus looks at the sheet, and says that it seems everyone has signed up, and she'll look forward to seeing all of them during free period, as well as being able to make a special announcement at that time.
Kelsi is followed by a horde of complaining students, all saying they had different plans for their free period instead of rehearsing a musical. Tiara follows Sharpay in, and thus is able to catch her when Sharpay faints on learning that the spring musicale is about "all of you"-- the entire senior class, and their last year in high school. But Gabriella makes a plea for them to consider doing the musical, as their last chance to do something together. The main group still are interested, until Troy declares that he's in.
Miss Darbus also shares her big news: four students in that group are being considered for one scholarship at the pre-eminent Julliard School of the Performing Arts in New York: Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy. Troy asks who the comedian is, obviously thinking this is a joke. Miss Darbus asks him whether something is wrong. Troy says he never heard of Julliard, but Miss Darbus tells him that Julliard has obviously heard of him. Although he says he has no interest in Julliard, he still starts flipping through the catalog that Miss Darbus hands to him.
