A/N: Hi, this is Squall Thrawn, back to after a long absence. I was drawn to this particular category for reasons I can't actually recall, and I read a good portion of this section without ever seeing the actual movie. And now that I've seen it… it's stuck in my brain… the songs, that is. Plus, I now have a full-on crush on Lucas Grabeel now. Every scene he's in, my response is "oh, he's so cute!!" I haven't actually seen HSM2 yet, but I'm planning to. I've sorta gathered what happened in it, so this story is set the following March. Only two months before they graduate. Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: This story is pure fiction, and thus is not meant to imply anything about the sexuality of any and all celebrities mentioned. If you are underage, or if you are offended by such stories, leave now!! Also, High School Musical is the property of Disney. It's not mine!

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Picking up the Pieces of a Lost Night

Chapter 1 - How the Hell did I get Here?

As the morning sun rose in the sky, it managed to finally reach the top of the tree line and shine into the second-floor window of the beautiful estate in Albuquerque. As the sun's rays of light entered the room, they landed directly on a sleeping, shirtless brunette lying on his back in a king-size bed. That early morning light was bright, piercing, and the brown-haired boy awoke to those blinding rays.

"Fuckin' sun," Troy Bolton managed to say, rolling over to his side. He tried to fall back asleep, but his stomach had other ideas. Whatever it was that he had done the previous night, his stomach was protesting for, and Troy struggled to keep himself from vomiting. Not to mention that his mouth felt dry and his head was killing him.

"Fuckin' hangovers," were the next words out of Troy's mouth. Drinking the previous night had seemed like such a good idea. Gabriella had broken up with him almost a week ago, citing irreconcilable differences. And that was about the only part that Troy understood about the situation; afterwards, Gabi had pulled out quite a few more big words. As far as Troy could translate them, it basically meant that she wasn't interested in Troy any more… and from a certain glint in her eyes, he thought she had found somebody else more interesting.

"Fuckin' girlfriends." Troy really hadn't done much dating before Gabriella, basketball taking up most of his waking hours. After the Twinkle Towne musicale, though, Troy had liked being part of a couple. And after the previous summer's events at Lava Springs, Troy never would've understood how much it hurt to be part of a couple, and to lose that other person. Sharpay's conniving had nearly done so, but Troy had come to his senses in time. After all of the trials they'd been through, Troy had been fairly sure he deserved more than the shitty explanation Gabi had given him. Given that she was now avoiding him as much as possible, Troy had no more idea of why she did it than when she first told him. Frustrated at the impasse, Troy had wanted nothing more than a night where he didn't have to think of her.

Naturally, Troy was popular enough that the opportunity came soon afterwards. If you knew who to talk to, and you had enough popularity, you could be invited a party, somewhere, any old weekend. A party with alcohol, of course. What was the point, otherwise?

This party was a little different from the others, though, because it was being held at the Evans Estate. Sharpay and Ryan Evans, East High's own Drama Queen and Drama King respectively, were throwing their annual St. Patrick's Day blowout. Ever since the summer's events, Troy, to his amazement, was actually getting along with the Evanses. Sharpay, naturally, still had her bitchy side, that one learned to deal with. Ryan, however, once he had come out of Sharpay's shadow, had proven to be a surprisingly genial person. The bitchy side that made Sharpay prickly and hard to deal with appeared in her brother as witty repartee. He could bitch just as much as Sharpay, and sometimes more so, but Troy never got the sense that the other boy meant any harm in his words. It came out instead as cutting humour that seemed to target Ryan himself as much as Troy or the others. Also, given Ryan's proclivity towards calm, rational thoughts, Troy found himself preferring Ryan's company to Chad's or Zeke's when he had something serious to talk about.

The best part about the St. Pat's Day party was that the Evans always supplied more than enough alcohol to meet the needs of their guests. And beds to sleep off the hangovers. Which, presumably, was where Troy was at that moment.

Troy wrinkled his brow. He didn't seem to remember going to bed last night. Matter of fact, he didn't remember most of the previous night at all. He recalled arriving at the party with Chad and greeting Sharpay and Ryan at the door. He remembered grabbing a drink and exchanging a few words with Ryan. Troy strained to remember more. Didn't he do a few shots with Jason and Zeke? Troy seemed to recall that. Then he remembered being interrupted by somebody. He remembered that that person was upset about something, but he couldn't remember what was going on, or even who it was. It went a little fuzzy after that. Followed by even hazier moments. Did he help the upset individual out? Troy wasn't sure, but he remembered walking back down the stairs, alone, afterwards. All that followed that was alcohol and more alcohol. And then blackness. Until the sun had rudely woken him up.

It was at this point that Troy was rather unexpectedly jolted out of his thoughts when a warm, bare arm was suddenly placed on his waist. Somebody else was in the bed with Troy, and he in his hungover state had not even realized it yet. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Troy looked over to see who was sharing his bed. Despite everything that had happened, Troy was actually hoping to see Gabi and her black hair resting on the pillow beside him. The creamy whiteness of the arm around him exposed the reality of the matter though, and Troy wasn't too surprised to see that his companion in bed had blonde hair.

'Looks like Sharpay finally got her wish,' Troy thought, shaking his head. The girl had been gunning for him the entire previous summer, and Troy wasn't too surprised to see that she'd taken her opportunity to get him in the same bed as her when the situation had come up.

Just then, the blonde shifted, and Troy stared over in horror at the sight of a peacefully slumbering Ryan Evans. 'Shit, shit, shit,' Troy cursed mentally. He liked the less needy of the Evans twins quite a bit actually, as a friend. He had come to terms, years ago, that Ryan was gay. The other boy had never actually come out to Troy, but even Troy wasn't completely oblivious. At the same time, though, Troy wasn't at all interested in Ryan that way. Not even remotely.

With that, Troy was out of the bed immediately. He could only imagine what it would've looked like to Chad or the other guys. Luckily, he still had his pants on. That, in and of itself, relieved him. If he'd actually done something with Ryan, no doubt he wouldn't put his jeans right back on.

His head still pounding and his stomach on the verge of emptying itself out with every step he took, Troy managed to stagger out of the room, which he finally, in his sleep-hazened state, recognized as Ryan's own bedroom. Walking down the hallway to the bathroom, Troy splashed some water in his face, trying to wake up a little more. Hopefully, somebody else was awake by now, and perhaps Troy could get a ride home from that person, having rode in with Chad.

As Troy approached the Evanses' kitchen, he could hear laughter coming from within. The kitchen door opened, and Taylor appeared before him.

"Hey, Troy," said Taylor, her voice calm and collected. "Did you sleep well?" With that seemingly innocent comment, though, it seemed that she was almost struggling not to grin.

Troy merely grunted, not having the time to figure out what seemed to be amusing her. After all, it surely couldn't have been that she knew that Troy had somehow ended up in Ryan's bed, could it? If Troy had been wide awake, he would've been freaked out at the possibility that anybody knew, but sleepiness was dulling his paranoia.

Continuing on to the kitchen, Troy could hear the unmistakable sound of Chad's laughter. Troy cracked a smile as well, at that sound. Chad was a great friend, and could always cheer Troy up.

"Morning, guys," Troy said, as he walked into kitchen. Chad was there, of course, as were Zeke and Jason. They looked to be laughing at a sheet of paper that appeared to have blown-up picture on it.

"Sleep well, Troy?" Jason was the first to respond, a smirk on his face. Troy started to feel uneasy about things. It could hardly be a coincidence that both Jason and Taylor had asked him how he'd slept.

"My head is killing me," Troy groaned, hoping that it was just a coincidence.

"Just your head, eh?" Zeke said, and the other boys snickered.

"Ok, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Troy demanded, getting tired of the innuendos.

"Nothing, man," Chad said, chuckling. "It's just, you looked like you enjoyed where you were sleeping last night. Well, you and somebody else." Still chuckling, Chad handed Troy the sheet of paper. "We took that last night with Sharpay's digital camera; you can have that copy."

Troy's face, already pale from the hangover, seemed to lose even what little colour it had left. It was, as he feared, a picture of himself and Ryan laying in bed. Only, unlike when he woke up, Ryan was pressed up against Troy, sleeping with his head on Troy's shoulder and his arm on Troy's waist, holding him.

"The two of you look so cute together," Jason put his two cents in. "I wish you would've told us sooner, we would've been shopping for curtains for the two of you."

"Shut the fuck up, dude," Troy said, angrily. "I'm not a fuckin' fag. And I'm certainly not with Ryan."

"If you say so," said Chad, shrugging. Then he got an evil look on his face. "I guess we know why Gabi broke up with you, though."

With that, Troy lunged at Chad. Zeke and Jason had to hold him back. "Let me go, I'm gonna beat his face in!" Troy shouted, struggling with his two friends. Troy was still hurting about Gabriella, and Chad had hit him in his most vulnerable spot.

"Dude, I was just fuckin' with ya," Chad said. "I didn't mean any harm by it."

"Well, you picked the wrong topic to mess with," Troy said, heatedly. Reluctantly, he stopped struggling.

"Yeah, that was outta line," Zeke said, shaking his head. Jason agreed with him.

"You're right, guys," Chad said, looking apologetic. "Sorry, bud. I know you're still raw about that."

"What are you going to do about that picture?" Troy asked, apprehensively. "You know what everybody at school would say about it, and it's completely wrong. You'd just be stirring shit up."

"That's why we're not spreading it around," Chad reassured Troy. "We just wanted to have a little fun this morning; I didn't mean to cross the line."

"Good," Troy grunted. He was suddenly sick of this place, of this situation. "Can one of you run me home? I don't feel like being here any more."

"I was about to head out myself," Jason Cross said, smiling. "I've got some lawn work to do for my dad today, and I just want to get it over with."

"Great," Troy said, managing one of the first smiles he'd had that morning. "Let me see if I can find the rest of my clothes, and I'll be ready to go."

"Bet they're probably crumpled up at the foot of Ryan's bed," Chad said, grinning.

"Chad! Knock it off!" Troy exclaimed. "It's not funny."

"Dude, if you just slept there last night, they'd still probably be on the floor by the bed," Zeke said reasonably.

Troy didn't respond to that, but instead headed back to Ryan's bedroom. The blonde was still fast asleep, but Troy cast him nary a look as he looked around for his clothes. He found his shirt and socks neatly folded on a desk chair, and his keys, wallet, and cellphone were sitting on top. His shoes had been neatly placed at the foot of the chair. Ryan's work, no doubt; Troy was never this organized, even in his own room.

Troy quickly pulled on his shirt and socks and stuffed the rest of the items in his pockets. He was putting on his shoes when he could hear a noise from the bed- Ryan was waking up.

"You're already awake?" Ryan asked, the fatigue evident in his voice. "How do you feel this morning? Are you all right?"

"Fine," Troy said, noncommittally, not looking over at his friend. "I've got the hangover from hell, but I'll live. Jason's gonna drop me off at home."

"Already?" Troy could hear disappointment in Ryan's voice. "Last night, you said you were going to…"

"Yeah, I gotta go right now," Troy said, cutting Ryan off. His shoes finally on, Troy headed towards the bedroom door. He wasn't sure whether or not to tell Ryan about the picture or not, but decided not to. It would probably cause Ryan to explain what the hell had gone on last night, and Troy wasn't even sure he wanted to know. "See you later, Ryan."

"So, you got fuckin' wasted last night," Jason said as he and Troy drove away from the Evans Estate. They were in Jason's F-150; on this bright Saturday morning, everybody seemed to be out and about. Traffic wasn't too heavy, but wasn't negligible, either.

"I know," Troy said, groaning. "I feel like just being put out of my misery."

"So, what was going on between you and Ryan?" Jason asked, signalling as he made a right turn.

"I thought you were gonna leave that alone," Troy growled.

"Wasn't actually talking about that, Bolton," Jason said, shaking his head. "I'm talking about last night. He was acting like the two of you were like best friends, or something. And he was watching you like a hawk when you were doing all of that drinking. At some point, I think he actually convinced Chad to switch you to water when he thought you'd had enough. And even though I wasn't there at the time, I'm pretty sure he and some of the guys carried you after you passed out. That's when Zeke and I went looking for you. We found you and Ryan like you were in the picture, and Sharpay was more than happy to lend us her digital camera." Jason actually giggled. "I think Sharpay was pretty drunk last night, too, because she was acting all nice and shit, and nothing like she usually does." Jason finished, shaking his head.

Troy didn't respond at all, as he struggled to incorporate all of Jason's story into his memory of the night's events. So far, nothing Jason had said was jogging any other memories. All it had done was reinforce the idea that Ryan hadn't forced himself onto Troy.

"When I was doing all this drinking, with Ryan looking on, was this earlier in the evening, or later?" Troy finally asked. "Wasn't it later in the evening? Because I don't remember drinking that heavily in the beginning." Troy had already decided not to reveal that he couldn't remember the night's events; his friends were having too much fun messing with him as it was.

"I think it was after you disappeared for a while," Jason said, after a moment's thought. "You were gone for a bit, then you came back and started doing shots with us. Ryan showed up soon afterwards."

So apparently Troy had helped the upset person in his memory. That would explain his absence. And it sounded like Ryan wasn't there either. So was he the upset person? Or was he helping out too?

"Thanks for the ride, Jason," Troy said, choosing not to think about the night any more.

"Not a problem, Troy-boy," Jason said, smiling. "I don't mind at all."

The weekend passed by way too fast for Troy's tastes. He ended up sleeping for most of Saturday, recovering from his hangover. Sunday had been spent doing chores around the house and practicing basketball with his dad. And before Troy knew it, he was driving to school in his pick-up. He was hoping to talk to Chad and Zeke and fill in the missing parts of that party. Troy hated incomplete puzzles.

As Troy pulled up into the parking lot, he saw Chad nearby, as if waiting for Troy. Troy got out of his truck and walked towards his fluffy-haired friend.

"What's up, Chad?" Troy asked, smiling.

"I didn't do it, I swear," Chad said without preamble. "It wasn't me. I said I wouldn't."

"Ok, I believe you," Troy said, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "But what didn't you do?"

Chad flushed. "Well, you remember that picture from the party?"

"The one you said you weren't gonna spread around?" Troy said, his eyes wide. "Don't tell me…"

"I think Taylor showed it to one of her Chem Club friends, just for laughs," Chad said, shaking his head. "And, well… Gabi got her hands on a copy. She's not too happy with you at the moment, bud."

"Yeah, I was a little stubborn when she broke up with me," Troy said, sardonically. "I put her out when I actually asked for reasons. I guess she just wanted me to say bye and drop it."

"Well, she spread it around the whole school, dude. Now everybody knows you spent Friday night in bed with Ryan Evans."

Troy Bolton put his hands over his face. "Fuck."

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So, there's the first chapter. This idea came to me when I was thinking about the nights I've spent partying. Though my nights never resembled Troy's, I have gotten drunk enough to forget all about the fact that I hit on a really str8 guy that I'd never be interested in sober, I hit on my friend Tracy's bf Matt, and also one of my managers from work. And all I remember are very small bits and pieces.

And tell me if you'd prefer I didn't use the very strong language I used. I can tone it down. I just know that they were the words I would've used when waking up.

Please, read and review!! Reviews help me grow as a writer and encourage me to write faster!!

Squall