#1 – Don't Be So Naïve…

The parade of Wildcats flooding back into East High was exuberantly excited about their senior year. As always, the perfect couple, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, led the procession of varied jocks, Ac Dec members, hip-hopping bookworms, theater nerds, and what have you. It was hard to ignore the pageantry – Gabriella was easily the most beautiful girl in school, and her confidence radiated for all to see, while Troy and Chad Danforth were just fun to watch, with their impromptu dancing and handsome faces.

At least, that was how Emily Houston viewed it. She adjusted the thin wire-frames over her blue eyes, looking at her reflection in her locker mirror. She had outdone herself today – her white denim jacket contrasted perfectly with her mocha-colored skin, and the pink shirt beneath it was perfect for her dark jeans. Emily clasped her hands together in delight.

"Perfect first day outfit, wouldn't you say, Tara?" Emily asked a girl to her right.

Tara gathered a large black binder from her locker, which was plastered with sheet music, formulas, and stickers from grocery store vending machines. She turned to Emily, her red hair, bunched into a ponytail, whipping behind her.

"You always look great," Emily responded quietly, looking to the floor. Her square-framed glasses slid down the bridge of her nose slowly.

Emily had been friends with Tara too long to not recognize the expression on her face. "You're worried about seeing him again, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Tara responded hurriedly, her face turning a delicate shade of pink. A few faces turned towards her – apparently the outburst was fairly loud. One of the faces was Taylor McKessie, Chad's girlfriend and Emily's cousin. Taylor laughed and walked over to the two of them.

"Hey girls," Taylor nodded.

"Hey Taylor," Emily responded. Tara waved at Taylor. Taylor rolled her eyes when she saw Tara.

"Worried about seeing Mr. Mystery Date, then?" Taylor inquired, looking to Emily.

"When isn't she?" Emily responded under her breath.

Taylor smiled at Tara, who stood pigeon toed and avoided Emily's eyes. She instead elected to stare at her black leg warmers and her white pleated skirt, hidden underneath her large blue Flashdance-esque sweater.

"If you just told me who you liked –" Taylor began.

Tara dropped her things on the ground. "Oh no. No, I can't, no, no, no… you'd laugh at me…"

Taylor raised her eyebrow with a confused look on her face. "…Tara, I'm not going to laugh at you. Who do you think I am?"

Tara went to respond, but she saw something – someone – behind Taylor and froze up. She dove down to the ground, going to collect her things, face flushed. The figure behind Taylor grimaced, pushing some blonde hair out of her face.

"Sharpay," Tara finally whimpered.

Taylor and Emily whipped around. Sure enough, it was Sharpay Evans, soon joined by her aimless brother Ryan. Tara got even stiffer and turned beet red.

"Hello, Tara," Sharpay leered at her.

"How's it going?" Ryan asked her, a lot friendlier than his twin.

Tara stared at the floor, doing everything in her power to not look him in the face. "I'm all right... and you?"

"I'm –"

Sharpay thrust a manicured hand in Ryan's face, cutting him off. He frowned, choosing to adjust his hat and let his eyes wander the hall.

"What do you want?" Emily spat. Taylor smiled warmly at Ryan, but she gave Sharpay the same cold eyes that Emily was giving her.

"I was just going to talk to Tara about the fall musical," Sharpay informed them. "You see, I don't care HOW well she can sing – she better not even THINK about trying out for it. Not with the way she looks now."

Tara choked on some spit, her face going from blood red to ashen white. Emily crossed her arms.

"What's wrong with her?" Taylor asked before shaking her head. "Oh yeah, I forgot… it's just you being you."

Sharpay shrugged snootily at her. "Come on, Taylor, she's dead ugly."

If Tara was trying hard not to say anything in her defense, Ryan was trying just as hard to ignore everything Sharpay was saying.

Emily stood between Taylor and Sharpay, who were now metaphorically shooting daggers at each other. "Sharpay, LEAVE. Come on, Taylor, I think Tara's having an aneurism…"

Sharpay glared at Emily for a second or two before turning on her heel and tromping off. Ryan snapped out of his funk and fell to the ground, helping Tara gather her things.

"I'm sorry that she's being so unreasonable," Ryan told her, his voice tinged with anger. Taylor leaned against Emily's locker and sighed.

"Everyone knows that Sharpay's had it in for Tara since fifth grade," Taylor muttered. "You don't need to apologize for her."

"But thank you," Tara whimpered, still not looking him in the eye. "I…" Tara cut off, biting her lip. Ryan gave a defeated smile.

"There's no reason to be afraid of her," Ryan said.

"Are you kidding?" Tara moaned, finally looking at him. "She's terrifying!" Tara clutched a binder close to her chest, letting her glasses fall down the bridge of her nose. Ryan pushed them up for her, laughing inwardly.

"RYAN!"

Sharpay had stomped back. "Stop talking to her and LET'S GO!"

Ryan narrowed his eyes, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and walked after her.

"You don't have to be so hard on her," Ryan muttered at her.

"Why do you always stick up for her?" Sharpay demanded. "She's just a dowdy nerd, and WE don't need that kind of person in OUR musical!"

"When did this become an issue of US again…?"

The strains of their bickering echoed down the hall, mixing with the swirling colors of the jovial Wildcats and the shuffling of sneakers along the hall. Tara stared at the spot where Ryan had been for a minute or so.

Taylor turned to Emily. "I'm going to go to class… good luck with her."

"I'm going to need a miracle," Tara whispered, finally turning away from the spot. She stood up, a delicate shade of pink.

"Oh my God, you're so pink," Taylor noted, worried. She pulled Tara into a hug. "She really embarrassed you, didn't she?"

Tara made an indicative noise as she buried her face into Taylor's neck. Emily glared at a spot on the ceiling.

"You can't take this crap from her anymore," Emily told her. "She's tormented you since grade school, and kept you from the things you want to do."

A thought struck Taylor. "What about the boy you like? Can he help?"

Tara turned beet red and pushed away from her. "No! No, he…"

Emily rolled her eyes and grabbed Tara by the arm. "We should get to class before Tara loses her mind completely."

Taylor laughed. "Of course. See you in Darbus' class!"

"Bye Taylor!" Emily called, dragging Tara behind her.

"See you in Ac Dec…" Tara called as well, tripping over her loose socks. Emily seemed determined to keep hauling Tara down the hall, though, and Tara didn't have enough gumption to tell her off. Emily let Tara go right before they walked into Math, both of them standing in a small alcove between two lockers.

"I thought you were keeping your crush a secret," Emily frowned.

Tara licked her lips. "I am. I didn't say anything to her, or to Sharpay, or –"

"To Ryan?" Emily laughed derisively as Tara's expression changed from one of composure to one of chaos. "It was only three thousand percent obvious that you're in love with him."

"…That's only because you know about it!" Tara tried to cover it up. "I mean, Taylor didn't say anything –"

"Taylor's too nice to say anything," Emily pointed out. The two of them walked into class and took their usual seats in the third row. "My point is, you can't be such a spaz when you see him!"

"You saw what he did, didn't you?" Tara questioned.

"He pushed your glasses back up your nose." Emily rolled her eyes. "Textbook example of a guy having NO IDEA how to react in a situation."

Tara made a small noise of dissent before taking out her notebook, reading herself for a new school year she wasn't sure she wanted to take part in.

-

"Heaven… must be missing an angel… missing one angel, child –"

Sharpay glared at Ryan, who was singing quietly as he took books out of his locker during the free period.

"What on EARTH are you singing?" Sharpay demanded to know.

"Tavares," Ryan responded in an affronted manner.

"…What?" Sharpay shook her head. "I don't want to know." She shut her locker, shielding the pink decorations and glittery sequins from view. "Ryan, why are you in a bad mood today?"

Ryan snorted. "I don't see why I you bully Tara Flanaghan."

Sharpay flipped open a mirror compact and began touching up her eye shadow. "Since when do you care about what I do to her?"

"Since she dissolved into a nervous wreck around anyone associated with you," Ryan glowered, "including me."

Sharpay dropped her eye shadow wand, giving Ryan a confused and dumbstruck look.

"She's our lead chorus girl," Ryan quickly added, "and I don't want to work with someone who's afraid of me. Not to mention that if you bar her from the musical, it'll be a nightmare trying to find a replacement."

Sharpay picked up her wand before laughing. "Ryan... you worry too much."

On the other side of the locker bay, Taylor was talking to Gabriella on her cell phone.

"I'm serious, if we don't get Tara away from Sharpay soon, she's going to refuse to show up at school," Taylor explained. "Sharpay's stolen all of her self-esteem… what little of it she had, anyway." Taylor paused. "It would be wonderful if we could get her set up with the guy she likes, but one problem… yep, you nailed it. I don't know how we'll find out, either –"

Emily and Tara stomped down the hallway, arguing and nearing Ryan, Sharpay, and Taylor.

"If you'd just grow a SPINE and tell him how you feel –" Emily chided loudly.

"You know perfectly well WHY I can't do that!" Tara screeched back.

"Oh yes, your irrational FEAR of ASSERTIVE WOMEN gets in the way, doesn't it?!"

"I am NOT AFRAID OF THEM ALL, look at YOU –"

The two ran out of earshot, still bickering. Taylor gaped at them before turning to Gabriella on the phone.

"Gabriella, I think I just figured out who Tara likes," Taylor murmured. "She was arguing with Emily, and I think… I think she might like Chad!" Taylor paused again. "I know – no wonder she wouldn't tell us!"

Sharpay had also heard the argument. She turned to Ryan with a wicked smile on her face.

"Oh, that's rich," Sharpay sneered.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"A fear of assertive women," Sharpay laughed. "That means me, but that would also mean Gabriella Montez, now wouldn't it?"

"…I guess," Ryan replied, puzzled. "Where are you going with this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sharpay walked down the hall, Ryan following her. "That Tara girl must be in love with Troy Bolton – why else wouldn't she be able to tell him? All the girls on campus think he's dreamy… it makes sense that she would be no exception."

Ryan clicked his tongue. "...How can you be so sure, though?"

Sharpay tapped her pink heels against the tiled ground. "Haven't I always been right about these things?"
Ryan sighed, looking a little dejected. "…For the most part, yes."

A/N: This is my first foray into HSM fiction, which makes me even more liable to getting slammed for how crazy this story is. Most HSM fictions follow certain story lines: Troyella stories taking place in the future or in AU universes, Troypay stories taking place after an inevitable Troyella breakup… I really didn't want to do a story like that. Which is why I came up with this bizarre little thing. Just so you know up-front, the story is nine chapters long, varying in length from short vignettes to long flashback-driven episodes…

You can already tell how bizarre it's going to be.

A/N 2: Just to clear this up now, there is no Troypay in this story. I'm sorry… if that upsets you, you can leave…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own HSM!! Shocker! (Not really, eh?)