Ashley: I'll Always Be Close To Zac & Vanessa

The High School Musical franchise has come to an end, and Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens recently called it quits. But Ashley Tisdale says she and the former couple will always be the three musketeers.

"We're always there for each other," Tisdale, 25, told PEOPLE of her former castmates Wednesday at the DVD release of her HSM spin-off Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure. "I love being with them. They're so supportive. It's just like a bond. I can't explain it, but they're like a family I've grown up with."

Tisdale says the trio always pick up right where they left off. "We're growing up and we're working on different projects, but we're all super supportive of each other," she says. "They're like my brothers and sisters."

The bond between the three stars, forged beginning with the first HSM in 2006, was evident at Tisdale's Soho House launch party in West Hollywood, where both Efron and Hudgens were all smiles as they came out to support their pal.

Hudgens, 22, rocking a shorter, pinned-up 'do, told PEOPLE she was "feeling great" fresh off a trip to France, where she and her mom "enjoyed eating crepes."

She and Efron, 23, took their turns posing with Tisdale on the carpet, before the three were led to a private area in the back of the venue, where they celebrated with Tisdale's family and other former HSM stars.

Credit: PEOPLE (Dahvi Shira)

Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens Have Split Up!

The king and queen of High School Musical are going their separate ways.

After more than three years together, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens have split, a source confirms to Us Magazine.

"It was mutual," the source explains. "They have been together for so long. It just ran its course."

And, the insider insists, "They are still talking and still friends. There's no drama. No one cheated. They just grew up."

Efron, 23, and Hudgens, 21, met in 2005 while making the first High School Musical flick, and became a romantic item about two years later.

"Right off the bat, we had a connection," Hudgens told Glamour magazine earlier this year. "I think everybody could see it. When we had our audition, they paired us together. And he was adorable."

"I think that we inspire each other," she added. "[I love] having someone to grow with."

Efron admitted to Details' September issue that he had pondered the single life. "Everyone tells me [to play the field]," he said. "I think a lot of guys would enjoy that. But I'm not really like that."

He shot down claims that their romance was an elaborate publicity stunt. "That's just [expletive] insane... It would have been so much easier to call it off a long time ago."

Credit: Us Magazine