AN: So I was going to start on what I had written for the sequel for Jay, but then I decide to rewrite it because I didn't like what I had so I decided to type up this. I have been working on it since I started typing Jay and have almost finished hand writing it in a notebook so I think it is time to start typing it up. I think the only thing you need to know is that Troy and Gabriella never met at the ski lodge, but she will go to his school so, maybe not in this chapter, definitely in the next. It starts slow and short, but the chapters get longer, I promise.

Chapter one

'Let the rain come down,' He thought staring out the classroom window blankly, not paying attention.

"Care to grace us with your attention Mr. Bolton?" The teacher snapped him out of his thoughts.

Troy's head snapped towards the teacher, "Why? Do you think you deserve it?" So he was sort of a jerk, scratch that, he was really a jerk. Everyone would contribute that to his ego. But he actually was pretty good at keeping his ego in place. You could say it was his attitude. And that was true, he had an attitude problem. But everyone treated him like a king because of his dad and from basketball. But it drove him insane that everyone would drop at his feet. It disgusted him how pathetic people were. And that drove him to being a jerk.

He was waiting for someone to stand up to him, for someone to get sick of his attitude. Of course he could never see anyone doing that, not even his best friend. And that bothered him too. Friends, who would want to be friends with him when he was such a jerk. He thought if he was enough a jerk, they would get sick of it one day and crack under his actions and words. And then maybe, just maybe they would tell him to stop being so jerk-y.

"Shut up Bolton and pay attention," the teacher said before going back to teaching. Troy acted as though he was paying attention even though he still hadn't taken in a word that had been said.

The bell rang and Troy bolted from the room. It was time for his favorite class: Gym. He always dominated it no matter what they were playing. And he wanted to change before the other guys got there. It was weird to have the other guys looking at him. He was fit, no way around it, he had the abs, he had the muscles and it was cliché but he had everything. He pushed the door to the locker room open. He fiddled with his locker and popped open. He stashed his bag in it and changed quickly. He was exiting the locker just as most others were entering. He went out and set out on the bleachers. He noticed that the wall was closed today. It meant that the boys were doing something different than the girls. It made the gym seem incredibly small and Troy didn't like it.

Once all the boys were out his dad called them to order. "The girls are doing a dance unit this week, if you would like to join them, you may, but we are going to do a short unit on volleyball before moving on to basketball with the girls," coach said. They dragged out the nets and poles from the storage room and set them up. "Ok you are all junior and should know by now the rules and techniques of the game. But grab a partner, a ball and a block of the wall to practice passing first. Remember to keep your hips low, your arms flat and straight, but don't swing them, just shrug your shoulders."

Troy grabbed his best friend Chad by the shirt and pulled them off the bleachers. It wasn't mean or harsh; it was just the way he did it. Chad never complained and it never hurt him. He pulled out of Troy's grasp and grabbed a ball as Troy got a spot on the wall that was clear of everything. Everyone stayed away from him, as Troy was known to go a little extreme. They passed against the wall for a short time before moving on to setting, hitting and serving across the next with their partner. Troy had a strong arm and aim as he served. He knew he could serve it straight to Chad, but what was the point of looking good? He screwed around a bit and served it other people, one of which wasn't paying attention and went to the nurse's office with a bloody nose. It wasn't an odd occurrence for the gym class. Every boy was always hoping it wasn't him that would end up going.

They went into scrimmaging the last half of class. Whatever team was playing Troy's coward at his might as he served or hit the ball. One poor boy ducked out of the way of one of Troy's serves. Troy blew a circuit at this, "Come on coward! Play the stupid ball; it is not going to hurt forever. Pain fades!" Troy yelled at him angrily. Troy knew a lot about pain physical, emotional and mental, though not that many knew about. What he said was slightly ironic to Troy. He was a jerk so he wouldn't get hurt, which made him a coward.

His dad called them to halt not long after this outburst and sent them to change. Troy changed and slammed his locker shut making the boys in his row jump. He was in a bad mood and everyone could tell. People were pathetic.

"You know you were kinda harsh in there," Shad said in the hallway after class

"I know," Troy said bumping into a freshman, "What where you're going!" he shouted at them. They squeaked an apology and hurried off.

"Like that," Chad said.

"It's a freshman," Troy said. Troy headed to his next class. "You are in my seat," he told a sophomore girl. She scurried away quickly, frightened, to a different seat to talk to her friend. Ug, math, way to make him feel stupid. It was probably his worst subject, right there along side his science course he was taking that year.

"Homework Bolton?" The teacher asked as she came up and down the rows of students looking over people's papers to see if they did it as the students looked to see if they had right answers, which were being screened on the overhead.

"Why would I bother doing your homework?" Troy said, "It is totally pointless." He scooted out his backpack into the aisle as the teacher made a note of his lack of homework on her paper. He held in a laugh as she stumbled over it and caught herself on the desk behind him. The teacher was a pushover, a total flake.

Troy exited quickly after the bell rang for lunch. He pushed one of his teammates out of a seat to sit next to Chad as he set his lunch on the table. Adam, was the guy, rubbed his shoulder but said nothing not wanting to look weak in front of Troy.

"Dude what is your problem today?" Chad asked with some short, fake confidence.

"People are pathetic," Troy mumbled, not sure if anyone actually understood him. He couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and knocked some nerd's lunch into their shirt, "Watch where you are going," he growled. He disappeared out of the cafeteria and up to his secret spot. No one else knew of this place and that made Troy very happy, it was a place he could be alone.

And Troy liked being alone. Troy had never been good at expressing himself beyond basketball. He wasn't good at talking or communicating vocally or in writing. This caused him to be a very inward person; he tended to keep things to himself. He didn't like to be showy or let others see him or what he had. He had a lot of secrets and kept many other people's secrets. He wasn't into public displays or showing to a vast amount of people really anything other than what he could do with a ball.

And to many people's surprise, he was never very showy with a basketball. He was willing to give up the ball to someone else with a better shot. He had always been a team player. He knew he couldn't get anywhere without his team and always tried to acknowledge them. They were his boys and contrary to common belief, he cared a lot about what they did or what was happening to them or just what was generally going on in their life. And he kept tabs on things. Like when Miles, one of his posts, had one of his grandparents died, Troy made a point of asking him how he was doing and what was being done. Or when Nate's parents had another child even though Nate was 16, Troy asked about his mother and then his little sister. And Troy knew probably more about the little girl than anyone else on the team did. Some where inside the rough exterior that was Troy Bolton was a heart and a guy who did care about the people around him. He just wasn't good at showing it.

As he sat on the rooftop, he contemplated skipping his next class, history. He could go down to the class or he could stay on the rooftop. He strolled into the class a few minutes late and handed the teacher a lie about talking to his dad before taking his seat in the back. He doodled all period. He missed all the cheerleaders in the class attempting to flirt with him over notes. He never replied, not even noticing them on his desk. And they stayed there after the period ended.

He never really ever flirted with any girls. He had dated a little bit before, but nothing was ever all that special. He wasn't really into dating, all the girls attempting a date with him were giggly and annoying and generally just a waste of oxygen on the earth, but then someone had to date the idiot captains of sports. And the fact that Troy couldn't really express himself properly didn't help with the dating part of high school. He didn't know how to tell people that he appreciated them, so they thought that he thought of them indifferently.

Later that day, Troy was in his element at practice. Basketball always gave him a high in life that was like no other, better than you could ever get off of drugs or alcohol. Dribbling, shooting, rebounding, running, it was easy to see why he was captain. There was something almost strange about him when he played. He was so graceful; it was almost like an angel was walking among them. That was until someone screwed up and he opened his mouth; then the jerk came out. He bit off Jason's head for missing a pass. But if it was just him, a ball, and the basket, he was a beautiful sight.

And you couldn't see the wall he had built so strongly around his tender heart. And for a moment you could forget he was a jerk.

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AN: And that is chapter one, I will be continuing and get chapter two, and maybe three up tonight, maybe more, who knows. Please leave me a review telling me what you think whether it is this chapter or a later one, I just really want to hear what you think. If it is bad, tell me, if it is good, tell me. Don't write 'Good, update soon' it doesn't really give me anything.