Chapter One

"Dude." Chad nudged Troy's leg with his foot. No response. "Dude," he repeated as he leaned over and waved his hand in front of Troy's face.

Troy slapped at Chad's hand. "What?"

"You're supposed to be telling us what the game plan is for tonight," Chad reminded him with a roll of the eyes.

"Oh." Troy looked down at his plate of limp fries and then lifted a shoulder. "I, um, haven't figured that out yet." He glanced back across the room and shot to his feet. "I'd better go and," Troy snatched up his book and stuffed them into his bag, "yeah. Later."

"Later," Chad muttered a half beat after Troy had left. He made a face at Troy's back and then glared at Jason, who had tried to swipe one of his chicken strips. "Back off," he snapped, his hand going over his tray protectively.

Jason said something that sounded like an apology and Chad grunted out an acceptance, his eyes glued to the table that had held Troy's attention. Nothing interesting, just Ryan and that new girl sitting with their heads together over homework. Chad blinked realizing what he had missed. Sharpay was gone. Of course. He picked up a strip and munched on the end, trying to figure out when it was that Troy had started finding Sharpay worth watching. He'd been staring at her table pretty consistently since they got back from winter break. And had been going missing at random times without any plausible excuse. Chad snorted as he recalled how Troy had claimed that he was behind on homework. Like that even mattered.

Chad swallowed, and then reached for his coke. This sucked. Hardcore. Troy was his best bud, always had been and always would be. But ever since winter break things had been, well, off. And it clearly had something to do with creepy Sharpay Evans.

It was one thing to think that Sharpay was hot, because, well, she was, and quite another to actually do something about it. Even if she wasn't scary as hell, there was the fact that Zeke was all in love with her or whatever. Plus, she was high maintenance and Troy didn't have time to be getting all mixed up with some girl's bullshit drama. Not with the championship so close.

He glanced around the table and wished that he had someone to share his completely justified disgust with. Zeke was more likely to cry then commiserate, Jason didn't have a functioning brain, and the rest of the team, while being cool and all, weren't exactly his friends.

To hell with this, Chad thought as he snatched up his tray. He was sick of eating alone. And if Troy could go rush off with one of the wonder twins, he'd be damned if he didn't do the same. At least then he would have someone to complain to who might actually understand.

For all Ryan had managed to find himself a shadow, it still had to suck having his sister be all gooey-eyed over Troy and ditching him all the time. Besides, Chad had always thought Ryan was sort of cool in an over the top way. Chad nodded to himself and then marched over to where Ryan was sitting and thumped his tray down. Ryan and his sidekick looked up at him with surprised expressions and Chad decided to go for broke.

"Why can't we be friends?" he demanded as he plunked down.

Ryan blinked. "Excuse me?"

The girl gave Ryan an amused look and then thrust out her hand. "Hi, I'm Gabby," she chirped.

Chad took it gingerly. He'd heard some weird things about her, something about her being freaky smart and into biology. But she had a nice smile and was sort of cute up close. If you didn't mind the big-eyed girl next door type, that is. She sort of was staring at him though, which was kind of creepy. Gabby glanced down at their hands and Chad instantly dropped hers. "I'm Chad," he said lamely.

Gabby giggled and shot another look at Ryan. "I know who you are."

"Oh?" God, he hoped she didn't have a crush on him. That would totally suck and make the rest of lunch awkward as hell.

"Of course," Gabby answered, gathering up the papers she and Ryan had pouring over. "You're on the basketball team," she pumped a fist in the air. "Go Wildcats."

Chad gave her a blank look. "Yeah, right. I'm on the team." He turned to Ryan. "So, what about it?"

"What about what?" Ryan asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Want to be friends?"

Ryan made a point of glancing around the room. "Are we being filmed or something?"

"What?"

"I must be being Punk'd."

"What?" Chad did a quick sweep of the room. "Why could anyone want to punk you?"

Ryan leaned in close to him. "Come on, just tell me. I promise to act surprised." When Chad continued to look at him like he'd lost his mind, Ryan sighed. "Fine, be like that."

"Dude, has anyone told you you're weird?"

"Daily," Ryan answered nonchalantly. "Now tell me why you are really here. Who did you bet and how much was it?"

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Maybe he just wants to be your friend."

"And maybe Sharpay will have a change of heart, quit show business and donate all her shoes to Goodwill."

Chad let out a chuckle as Gabby cracked up, noting that Ryan looked pleased with himself. "Anyway," he said over top of Gabby's laughter, "You and me would be great friends."

Ryan looked skeptical. "What makes you think that?"

"Who knows where thoughts come from," Chad answered, taking a drink from his coke. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth and lifted an eyebrow. "They just appear."

"Who do you think you are? Lucas?" Ryan asked with a snort.

Gabby's brow furrowed. "Who's Lucas?"

Ryan turned to her with a pained expression on his face. "Oh no, you did not just say that." He crossed his arms and mock glared at her. "No more math for you until you've seen Empire Records."

"No way. You are not getting out of studying that easy." Gabby mirrored his stance down to the fake glare.

"Wow. You're even more disturbed than I thought you were," Chad joked, breaking the stand off. He pinched a fry from Gabby's plate and pointed it in her direction. "Watch the movie." Ryan gave him a blinding smile that died as soon as Chad angled the fry in his direction. "And don't change the subject. You. Me. Friends. Understand?" he stuck the fry in his mouth and reached for another.

"Just help yourself," Gabby snipped. Chad hesitated, hand halfway to her plate, he dropped it and gave her an apologetic grin. "Joking," she said with a smile, pushing it towards him. Chad took a handful and shoved them in his mouth. "So why do you want to be friends with Ryan again?" she asked when he finished chewing.

Chad finished off his coke and lifted a shoulder. "Thought he'd understand where I'm coming from."

"Cryptic much?" Ryan tapped his finger on the table top with a sigh.

"Well, you know, Troy and Sharpay."

Ryan's jaw dropped. "Wait, who and who?"

Chad's brow furrowed. "Troy, my best friend, captain of the basketball team, about this tall," he lifted his hand to about Troy's height, "floppy hair and teeth that cost his parents way too much to straighten. And Sharpay, the drama queen you call sister."

Ryan waved a hand, "Yes, I know who they are. But why are you mentioning them in the same sentence."

"Duh. They're an item."

Ryan let out a strangled noise and Gabby choked on her food. "What!" Ryan glanced wildly around the room. "Since when?"

"Winter break, as far as I can tell," Chad answered with a shrug. "You mean she didn't tell you?" Ryan shook his head. "Well, at least you noticed that she keeps disappearing with Troy."

"No." Ryan looked fit to be tied.

Chad laughed. "Dude, this is the third time this week."

"I don't keep tabs on Shar," Ryan said tightly. "I don't have to, she tells me everything anyway." He scowled. "Or, at least I thought she did."

"No offense or anything, but she is your sister. Maybe she didn't want you freaking out," Chad reasoned, pleased that he wasn't the only one being kept out of the loop. He turned towards Gabby and gave her his best charming smile. "You want to be my friend, don't you?"

Gabby tapped her lips thoughtfully. "You're more fun than Sharpay." Her eyes cut to Ryan and a smile bloomed on her face when he glowered.

Ryan made an affronted noise. "Shar is way more fun than Chad." Gabby gave him a smug look and he sighed. "Oh alright, she's not exactly the cute and cuddly type, but you have to admit that you have a good time when she's around."

"I bet we would have more fun with Chad around." Gabby held up her fingers and started counting them off, "He wouldn't freak out about the cold air being bad for his voice, or complain about having to work out for hours to make up from having an éclair, or whine about the paint on his toes getting chipped, or make us wash Boi or--"

"Oh alright," Ryan cut in over her. "You've made your point." He turned towards Chad. "Friends."

Chad stuck his hand out. "Friends." Ryan shook it just at the lunch bell rang. Chad jumped up, slung his bag over his shoulder and walked away with a smile the size of Texas splashed across his face.

"What was that about?" Gabby asked as soon as they were alone.

Ryan lifted his hands. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Ryan, you've got the biggest crush in the world on him," Gabby gave him one of her looks and he gave her one right back. "You would think that you would, you know, be nice to him when he sits down next to you and practically begs you to be his friend."

Ryan gave her a tight lipped smile. "He wasn't begging to be my friend; he was trying to scout out what I know about Shar and Troy. Which is nothing, by the way." Ryan glanced around the rapidly emptying cafeteria, vainly hoping that his sister would show up. Of course, she didn't. He let out a little sigh and hefted up his bag. "Come on, we're going to be late."

Gabby shook her head at him, but picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. "Well, I think that he likes you. There are about a thousand other people at this school, any number of which would fall all over themselves if he sat down at their table, but he chose to come and sit with you."

"Yes, but how many of those other people are actually friends with Sharpay, let alone related to her?" Ryan pushed the door to the cafeteria open and held it while Gabby walked past. "A big, fat zero. That's how many."

"That's pretty sad," Gabby said with a frown.

"What is?"

She gave him a flabbergasted look. "Your sister has no other friends in the school other than me and you. And I don't even think she counts me as her friend."

Ryan lifted a shoulder. "Sharpay doesn't have friends, she has minions. No one her meets her exacting standards."

"It's still sad." Gabby let out a little sigh. "I would offer to try and help her find some, but I think she wouldn't be the least bit interested."

"That's for sure," Ryan laughed as he dodged a group of freshmen. "She'd bite your face off and then point out that she gets by just fine with me and The Sharpettes."

Gabby looked confused. "The Sharpettes?"

Ryan nodded. "That's what she calls her three bffs slash backup singers. I don't think you've had the dubious pleasure of meeting them yet."

"She has backup singers?" Gabby narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren't pulling my leg, are you?"

"No way. Sharpay's had the same three backup singers since we were eight. They always perform with us at the talent show my parents throw every year at their club."

"That's weird." Gabby laughed. "She had better turn out to be a superstar or something, or they are going to feel like complete fools when they grow up."

Ryan scratched his cheek. "If Sharpay doesn't turn out to be a superstar we are all going to have a lot more to be worried about than feeling like fools," he said wryly. He titled his head towards the approaching hallway. "This is my exit. I'll see you in Bio, okay?"

Gabby waved at him. "See you then," she called as she headed off in the opposite direction.

This is going to be interesting, he thought as he veered down the hall and then hurried down the steps, heading for the theater. Typically he yawned his way through Intro to Theater, where he and his sister were technically TA's. In reality he was there to smile at Ms. Darbus when the pressure of dealing with the caliber of students in the class got to be too much for her and to listen to Sharpay blather on about her social life. Not exactly the most thrilling way to spend his afternoon, but certainly better than sitting through dance class with the talentless hack they hired on a on a cut-rate salary back in two thousand two, which effectively ended the dance program at East High.

But today, well today was going to be different. Today he was going to figure out exactly how Troy Bolton fit into Sharpay's life and why it was that he didn't already know about it.

Ryan smiled as he pushed open the door and tossed his bag onto the seat next to his sister. It landed with a thump, starting her, and she frowned up at him. "There you are," he said in an overly bright voice. "I wondered where you got off to after you up and vanished at lunch."

The frown deepened into a scowl. "Well what did you expect to happen?" she snapped. "You and little miss goody two shoes started talking about math, of all things. And you know perfectly well I can't eat when something as unpleasant as that is happening."

"So it's just a crazy random happenstance that you and Troy Bolton disappeared at the same time. Again. For the third time this week." Anyone else would have missed it, but because he was her brother, Ryan noticed the slight narrowing of Sharpay's eyes. She widened them innocently less than a second later, but the jig was up. "Don't even bother to deny it," he said as he settled himself into the plush red seat.

"Oh, alright," Sharpay answered with a pout. "I was going to tell you anyway." She unsnapped her clutch and fished through it, pulling out a nail file. "I would have told you sooner if you were so self-involved. Seriously, it's been all you all the time ever since that mousy little Gabriella decided to attach herself to you like some sort of overgrown, math loving barnacle."

Ryan took a calming breath. "Sharpay, what, exactly, is going on with you and Troy Bolton."

She let out a huff. "Don't blame me if your little feelings get all hurt. I was going to be a good sister and wait for the right moment. Maybe even take you out to dinner, break it to you over something decedent and dripping with chocolate--"

"Sharpay," Ryan bit out.

"I'm auditioning with him for Twinkle Town."

Ryan shot out of his seat. "What!"

Sharpay tugged at his shirt. "Sit down," she hissed at the same time that Ms. Darbus cleared her throat.

Ryan slunk back into the seat, feeling angry and confused. "But we are auditioning for Twinkle Town. We had our pianist do an arrangement and everything."

"Things change." Sharpay went back to filing her nails.

"Things change?" Ryan looked at her in shock. "You are auditioning for a musical without me for the first time in the history of ever and all you have to say for yourself is 'Things change?'"

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Oh don't be so melodramatic. I auditioned for Annie without you."

"There are no parts for boys in Annie!"

"So? I still auditioned without you."

Ryan made a face. "You didn't get the part."

"Who said anything about getting the part?" Sharpay wrinkled her nose. "Besides, I would have looked terrible with all that frizzy red hair."

"Can we get back to the part where you were stabbing me in the back?"

Sharpay rolled her eyes again. "I'm not stabbing you in the back, Ry. I'm making a strategic career move."

"Strategic my ass. You know as well as I do that Troy can't dance, can't act and can't sing."

"He just needs a little bit of fine tuning," Sharpay said with a sniff.

Ryan snorted. "You just want to shag him senseless."

"Shag him senseless? What are you, British?" Sharpay sneered.

"Don't argue semantics with me. You've been after him since we were freshmen. And don't think I don't know why you wanted to go skiing so bad over winter break. Your sudden interest in Tahoe developed the moment you heard that Troy was going there with his family for the holidays."

"You can't complain," Sharpay shot back, "After all, you meet your new best friend there. Trust you to find the only uninteresting person in the room at a New Year party."

"Trust you to find Troy Bolton and stick to him like glue until midnight. Not that it did you any good."

Sharpay pointed her nail file at him menacingly. "Troy is a gentleman. Of course he would start our relationship with a kiss on the cheek."

Ryan laughed. "What relationship?" he crossed his arms and smirked at her. "If there was a relationship you wouldn't be jeopardizing your chance at lead role in Twinkle Town."

"I'm not jeopardizing anything," Sharpay retorted. "Who's going to audition against me for Minnie? You?"

Ryan glared at her, knowing perfectly well that she was right. "Fine, well, maybe you aren't. But you also aren't in a relationship with Troy."

Sharpay gave him her sweetest smile. "Give me time, brother dear. Give me time."

Chapter Notes: There are quotes from Empire Records and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog in this chapter.