Disclaimer: Shakespeare owns Romeo and Juliet. Disney owns High School Musical.

A/N: I was inspired by Leonard Whiting (Played Romeo in the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet) to write this. He looks so much like Zac Efron in one scene it's scary.

Oh, I took the R&J dialogue out of poetry format or whatever it's called (with "/"'s as the line breaks) just letting you know.

"Ryan! I need your help!" Troy Bolton stormed into the library angrily, groaning and making a huge scene. And they call me a drama king…

"With what?" I rolled my eyes. It was always the same thing with Troy, he'd only talk to me when it was convenient for him, then he'd ignore me the next day. I don't even know why I put up with it.

"This Shakespeare crap,' he slammed the script on the table in front of me. "I don't understand it at all."

"What exactly don't you understand about it?" I asked calmly, pulling out the seat next to me for him to sit down. He did.

He took a deep breath. "Gabriella and I are supposed to be doing a scene for drama, you know that, right?" I nodded. "I don't understand the language, and if I don't get that, I don't know how to act the part. Can you help me with it?"

"Sure." I opened the script in front of me to Act II, Scene II, otherwise known as the famous balcony scene.

"Um…actually, can we go somewhere more, um, private?" He glanced around nervously. I didn't see what was bothering him, the library was practically empty. It's always empty on Friday afternoons. I followed him up the stairs into the lesser-used section of the library, anyway. I used to spend most of my free periods there, looking over the railing at the people below. I liked the peacefulness. "I thought we should have some privacy. I get distracted easily. Plus that librarian lady scares me." He shrugged and sat down on the floor. I did the same.

"Yeah, she scares me too," I said, debating whether or to sit a little closer to Troy. I decided against it.

"Well," he said, returning his attention to the open script on the floor between us. "I understand Romeo's obsessive rant right here," he pointed to the dialogue on the page, "but this I don't get."

I took the script from him. "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." I paused, "That?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Juliet is thinking this, remember. She doesn't know Romeo's there." He nodded. "She's basically saying, 'Why are you a Montague?'"

He nodded slowly, "Because she's not supposed to be in love with him, right?"

"Right." I couldn't concentrate.

"Right here," he pointed to Juliet's next piece of dialogue, "is she saying that Romeo would still be himself if he had a different name?" he lifted his head slowly, his face inches from mine.

"Pretty much," I replied.

"What about this part?" he flipped the page a couple of times and began reading. "Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops­—­­"

I took the script from him. "O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable."

"What shall I swear by?" he continued reading, glancing up at me every so often.

"Do not swear at all; or if thy wilt, swear by thy gracious self, which is the god of my idolatry, and I'll believe thee."

"If my heart's dear love­­­­­­-­-­-"

"Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight: it is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; too like the lightning, which doth cease to be ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night! This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast!"

"What's Romeo swearing about?"

"Remember before when Juliet said, 'Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet?'"

"Yeah."

"Well, she's saying, 'Forget about your father and change your name. Or if you won't, just swear you'll love me, and I'll stop being a Capulet."

"So he's trying to prove he loves her?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Basically."

"She's afraid of commitment, isn't she?" he asked.

"I think she just thinks it's happening too fast."

"Would you be, if you were her, I mean?"

"What?"

"If, lets say, I said I loved you, like right now, would you respond the same way Juliet did?" His blue eyes sparkled with an emotion I couldn't quite read.

"I don't know, but what are you trying to get at, Troy?" He leaned in and kissed me softly.

"That we're like Romeo and Juliet," he kissed me again.

"How exactly," I pulled away, unsure as to whether he meant it or not, "are we like them?"

"Think about it, Ryan." He paused. "I'm Troy Bolton. You're Ryan Evans. We're from two completely different worlds. I'm not supposed to feel this way, to love you the way I do. But I do, and I can't stop it." He shook his head. "Remember how the school freaked when they found out about the singing thing? Imagine what they'd be like if they found out about this." He laughed quietly.

"But you're not in love with me, right?" I asked, both very shocked and very doubtful, after all, this was Troy Bolton, and Troy Bolton didn't fall for guys like me. Or guys at all, for that matter.

"I am, Ryan. I swear." He leaned in to kiss me again, but I resisted.

"You don't have to swear, Troy. I believe you, but this is happening way too fast for me. I love you too, I really do, but can we slow it down a little?" He nodded and wrapped his arms around me.

"Why couldn't Billy over here just say that, instead of rambling on about lightning and the moon?" I laughed, and as he joined me I took in his every feature. The blue of his eyes against his flawless, tanned skin. The way his hair would fall in front of his face every so often. But most of all, I noticed him. Every little trait that was Troy finally made sense. When I looked at him again, I didn't see Troy Bolton, because Troy Bolton was just a name, and a name was just a word. No, when I looked at him, I saw potential, potential for an amazing future with my Romeo.

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