East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has a very segregated student body; jocks, theatre kids, nerds, etc. Over time, a group of students broke through the status quo and started mingling with the other social crowds. For example, jocks were singing in musicals, and theatre kids were playing baseball. Everything was at a peaceful equilibrium at East High, until a new student came into the picture.

Chapter 1: The Start of Something New

Jason's POV

I opened my eyes realizing that I actually did fall asleep, even though the entire night before I was plagued with insomnia. I lifted my body up from my bed, and turned to crack my back as I stared at my alarm clock which read: 7:00 A.M. After I exited my bedroom I proceeded to the bathroom, which held my toothbrush. As I was cleaning my teeth with the sharp, fine bristles I was reminiscing about my old school. Old school. It felt weird thinking about the school district that I have been attending for sixteen years of my life was now considered, my old school.

I headed downstairs and began gnawing at the muffin my mother left for me on the kitchen table. It was blueberry, one of my favorites, but the anticipating of attending a different school rid me of any source of hunger.

"Jason, you better hurry up the bus is going to leave soon," my mother said.

"Alright," I called as a put the remains of the muffin in the refrigerator and scuffled out of the kitchen.

I grabbed my messenger bag which was leaned against the front door, and I turned around to give my mother a kiss as I left the house. She waved goodbye and said the typical "just be yourself" line. I nodded my head and ran out of the house praying that the school bus hasn't departed yet. As I approached the street I looked to see that kids were still stationed at the bus stop, so I signed with relief as I began walking towards my new future at East High.

Ryan's POV

"…..remember students, the theatre must be shown the utmost respect and treated with dignity and pride. The theatre is a wonderful way of released your inner self, and finding balance to everything that surrounds you…."

I honestly couldn't take anymore of Ms. Darbus' ranting of how "wonderful" and "beautiful" the theatre is. I mean, I do understand that the theatre is an amazing thing, being a theatre junkie myself, but honestly, get a hobby. I looked around to see that she was still going on about "finding your inner self," and I wasn't shocked to see a majority of the rest of the class zoning her out as much as I was. My twin sister, my talented twin sister, was twirling her perfectly permed hair between her fingers, while gazing dreamily at the basketball hottie, Troy Bolton. So, as you can tell, I like guys. A lot. Unfortunately, the only other gay guys in High East were either too far in the closet or not up to my standards. So, life as a theatre queer was pretty uneventful. Until, we had an unexpected turn of events.

Knock. Knock.

"What? Who dares to interrupt my speech of the beauty of the theatre," Ms. Darbus' face was a bright red as all the blood rushed to her scowling face, "Oh, Principal Matsuei, please come in!"

The principal our school walked into the room rather sheepishly, most likely due to the fear of Ms. Darbus launching an very heavy object towards him. "Well, I'd just like to let you know that a new student has just arrived here at East High."

"Great. Let's hope it's not like the last one we've had," my sister said out of the corner of her mouth, while she was glaring at Troy's genius of a girlfriend, Gabriella Montez.

Principal Matsuei continued, "His name is Jason Grabeel." At that moment a boy stepped through the opening of the door and stood side-by-side to Principal Matsuei, looking rather apprehensive. He was a little bit shorter then me, he had short, light brown hair which amplified his deep, denim-colored, blue eyes. He was wearing fashiomable black glasses, and he actually looked kind of, cute. His attire was similar to mine only not as ostentatious. He wore a green and white plaid colored shirt, with a pair of, with white board shorts. He also held a stonewash colored cap at his side. He looked very very cute.

He lifted his hand as he spoke, "Hi."

Some of the class giggled at his awkwardness, but Gabriella returned his greeting and was wearing a bright smile. The new kid smiled back, and then looked towards Ms. Darbus.

"Well, Mr. Grabeel, I am Ms. Darbus and you may pick any open seat."

Jason smiled, "Thanks," he said politely.

He began to walk towards Sharpay and I.

Oh, please, please be gay!

It seemed as though the new kid spotted the vacant seat to the left of Sharpay, but as soon as he made it noticeable that he was going to sit there, my ass of a sister stuck her feet out and placed them on the seat of the desk. She tilted her head andgave him one of her fake smiles and he turned around.

"There's an empty seat over here, Jason!"

I looked to see who spoke and I saw no other than Gabriella Montez waving him over with her overly-warm smile. The thing that irked me the most was that Jason smiled back looking rather happy. It wasn't that I didn't want him to be happy; I just wanted him to sit by me, not the girl with the hot boyfriend.

He took his seat and Gabriella turned to him, "Hi, I'm Gabriella. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too, and you already know my name so yeah."

Gabriella laughed and so did Jason.

"Well," Ms. Darbus broke the silence, "I hope you find a safe haven here at East High, if I may persuade you to join the drama clu-"

RING.

Everyone grabbed their school supplies and headed out the door. The only students that lingered in the room were; Jason, Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and I. I saw that Troy was helping his girlfriend with her backpack. I was of course scrambling to pick up all of Sharpay's things, because she was above carrying her own supplies according to her. I also spotted Jason chatting with Ms. Darbus about the curriculum by the door. He seemed very concerned about learning more about the school. Troy and Gabriella left, while both of them waved at Jason as they passed.

"Ryan! Why aren't you moving," Sharpay snapped at me. I started to imagine her having a bird beak, but the glare in her eyes brought me back down to reality. She gestured for me to go, and I obeyed while juggling her belongings along with mine. She trotted forward not caring enough to see if I was having any trouble, and of course as soon as we reach the area where Jason was, I lost my concentration, and fell flat on my face.

.life.

"Ryan, what's wrong with you! You just dropped my stuff," Sharpay screamed.

"I-I'm sorry, Shar. I just-"

"Just shut up and pick them up. God, Ryan!"

I looked away from her trying to avoid her terrifying gaze, but I went from one extreme to the next. Beside me I spotted a pair of gleeming, deep, blue eyes.

"Need some help?" Jason asked as he was down on his knees smiling at me.

I was speechless and for once, so was Sharpay. "Uh," I cleared my throat, "I think I'm good, thanks."

He smiled at me again and then spoke as he stood up, "Alright." He then turned to look at Sharpay, "Well, I'm sure he was just trying to help. I mean, those were a lot of books ya know."

Did the new kid just stand up against Sharpay, the Queen of the School, when she was yelling at me? Since when do people care about me? Besides Gabriella I mean, but I'm still jealous of her mancandy.

"Oh, I'm aware, but that doesn't make up for my brother's incompetence, so move aside-um, what's your name again?"

"Jason," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Right, well Jason," she took a step closer to him, "there's some rules here at my school and one of them is don't try to stand up against the leader of the pack. Do I make myself clear?" Jason looked towards where Ms. Darbus previously was, but saw that she was no longer in the room.

"Nice talking to you," she spat sarcastically. "Ryan," my sister bellowed as she approached the door. I followed her out of the classroom, but before we turned the corner I turned my head to Jason and mouthed, "I'm sorry." He gave me a faint smile in return.

Sharpay started to vent dramatically to me while in the hallway, "I mean, who the hell does he think he is? Coming into my school, on my turf, and him telling me off? Right, Ryan? Right!"

Like always I answered her with the typical, "Yes, Sharpay," "Exactly," "I know, it's crazy," "So legit." I was honestly not taking in a word she was saying as we approached her locker, I was still star-struck by the act of kindness Jason has just shown me.

Since when do people stick up for me? I'm a nobody. Just Sharpay's twin brother queer.

I was brought back down to Earth by having the wind knocked out of me, because Sharpay slammed her books into my chest. Her way of saying, 'hold this, bitch.' I gathered up all the courage I could muster as I did something that I never even would think of doing, standing up against my sister.

"Well, he was just trying to be nice and you didn't have to yell at me. You can carry your own books once in a while, I mean, they are your books. Ya know?"

As she whipped her head around like a snake, I stared into a pair of fiery, dark, brown eyes filled with anger. Honestly, I couldn't tell who was shaking more. Me, or her.

"What has gotten into you," she pushed my shoulder and my knees buckled due to the pressure, "You can forget about your little dance solo, Ryan, because I am legit cutting you out from the show! Maybe then you and you're new little boytoy will have some time to be nice to each other." She snatched her books out of my arms, but not failing to give me a scowling look as she brushed past me and headed down the hall. I was left speechless, staring into the openness of the hallway. What did I just do? I leaned against a locker for support as I was trying to shrug off the intense guilt and embarrassment as everyone in the hallway was staring right at me. At that moment, I really did think that my high school career was over. Dramatic I know, but what can I tell ya? I'm an actor. Plus, I'm gay. Ha.

"Hey, you alright there?"

I turned my sunken, pale face to see none other then the same boy that helped me before staring right at me, willing to assist me once again.

"Yeah, it's just," I took a deep breathe, "my sister."

"Oh," he tilted his head slightly, "sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," I lifted my hand and flicked my wrist flamboyently, "I'm not exactly 'as amazing as she is.'"

Wow. Way to be gay, Evans.

Jason laughed a bit, "You so sure about that?"

I could have sworn that I blushed slightly, "Uh, I don't know."

He laughed again and smiled childishly, "You seem to me that you're worth someone being nice to."

I knew I started to blush and I'm pretty sure he noticed it, because he started to turn a shade of bright red as well. "You too," the words escaped my lips and I closed my eyes out of embarrassment. When I opened them seconds later, I saw that he has turned even a brighter scarlet then I was.

He swallowed, "Well, uh, thanks," The other blue-eyed brunette laughed, "Interesting. Well, I think I should head off to my other class. Don't wanna be late ya know?"

I tried to act all cool by resting my hand up against a locker and crossing my legs, "Yeah, man. Totally."

I'm such an idiot.

The brunette laughed at my attempt to be all 'cool' and what-not, "I guess I'll see you around then," he started to walk away.

"Yeah, definitely!"

He nodded his head before I spoke, "My name is Ryan by the way!"

Jason started to walk backwards as he spoke, "Yeah, I know. Oh, and by the way, I like your cap." he smiled at me and then turned the corner.

When he was out of eyesight I leaned my back up against a locker and rested my head against it.

"This is gonna be one hell of a year," I said to myself while putting my hands ontop of my creme-colored cap that had the adoration of Jason.

RING.

"Damnit, I'm late," I dashed towards the end of the hallway where my class was located and managed to sneak into the room before the teacher noticed my absence.

The upside to being socially invisible.

I took my seat by my sister, apathetic towards the glares that shot at me. So far, life just got a little bit interesting.