A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back! I know it's been forever since I last posted a story, but I want to thank all of you for your patience. I also wanted to say thanks to those of you who keep adding my story to your favorites. I really appreciate it and that is what made me keep writing and work on this sequel. This is a sequel to my story "One Fine Day," so if you haven't read that you may want to go do that so this story will make a little more sense.

This story takes place about two months after the events of "One Fine Day." Unlike my other story, this story is going to be told in mainly Ryan's POV. There will be some exceptions, but mostly his POV. It also functions outside of HSM3, because I worked on it before that came out. Thanks a lot and I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from High School Musical, and I own none of the characters.

"Scars, Secrets, and Shadows": Chapter 1

Ryan's POV:

Another morning, another day at school, I thought as I walked out of my room and closed the door behind me. I slowly walked down the stairs, intentionally trying to take my time. I noticed this morning was a little strange. I didn't hear Sharpay yelling for me to hurry up, or pass my mother in the hallway. I also didn't hear any noise whatsoever from any of the help.

I soon began to notice things definitely weren't right when I got to foot of the stairs. The room around me faded away to black nothingness. Suddenly I found myself in the hallways of East High. The halls were dark and deserted. I was the only one at school.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I said as I continued to walk down the hallway. "Shar? Chad? Gabriella?"

"Ryyyyaannnn…." I heard someone whisper from the end of the hall way.

"Who said that? Is that you sis? Chad? If this is a joke it isn't funny, guys," I continued as I approached the end of the hallway. "Troy? Gabriella? Come on guys, cut it out," I finished as I cautiously inched closer to the end of the hallway. I got to the end of a row of lockers and prepared to look around the corner of the hallway. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and spun me around.

"Oh my God!!" I screamed as I turned around and faced Chad. "What are you doing??? You scared me half to death…"

"You have to get out of here Ryan," he said quickly as he grabbed my hand and started leading me back down the hallway.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked as we started to run further.

"He's here and we have to hurry before…" Chad said but was interrupted by someone yelling at the end of the hallway.

"Did you miss me Ryan?!?" An all too familiar voice called out to me.

"No….no it can't be," I said with horror as I turned around and looked at the end of the hall. There, at the end of the hallway stood Bruce, with the same awful smirk that always made me shudder.

With my back towards Chad I started backing away from that end of the hallway. I quickly turned around and was startled to find Trent and Mitch holding Chad between them.

"Chad!!" I screamed before running towards them.

"No don't worry about me….just get out of here!! Run!!"

"No Chad I'm not going to leave you….what if" I said before being knocked to the floor. My sternum hit the floor with a violent thud, causing me to gasp for breath. I quickly turned on my back to look above me. I was shocked to see Kyle standing there.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he said with an evil grin on his face.

"What are you doing here? Chad, you've got to help me…I" I said as I turned around to look at him, only to find that he was gone. "Chad? What have you done with him?" I yelled as I turned to look back at Kyle who was now side by side with Bruce.

"Poor little Ryan. He's all alone with nowhere to run," Kyle said as Bruce laughed and grabbed my ankle on the ground. I screamed as he drug me closer to the two of them.

"No! No!! Stop please!! Don't!!" I continued screaming as he picked me up and slammed me into the lockers.

"Alright kid, you take the first swing. When you're finished he's mine," Bruce smiled smugly.

"My pleasure," Kyle smiled as he pulled back his fist. Tears rolled down my face, as I slammed my eyes shut and braced for the first blow.

I suddenly shot up from bed and woke up. I was dripping sweat and there were still some tears on my face. I looked at both of my pillows, which were both soaking wet. I continued to gasp for breath when suddenly my bedroom door flew open.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" Sharpay asked as she rushed to the side of my bed. "You're soaking wet. Did you have another nightmare?"

"Oh it was awful Sharpay...." I said as I buried my face into her shoulder and hugged her.

"You know in normal circumstances, I would never let you mess up this Gucci robe with your tears," she said, causing me to chuckle a little in between sniffles. After a few more minutes passed I let go of Sharpay and laid my head back down.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "I could stay on the couch right at the foot of ……"

"Shar," I interrupted, "I'll be fine. Go back to sleep, ok? I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, if you're sure you're going to be okay…" she continued as she stood up.

"I'm fine….good night sis," I said as she walked to the doorway.

"Good night little brother," she said as she walked out and closed the door.

I eased back in to bed and closed my eyes. "Ugh…school tomorrow….I have to….get….to….sleep," I said to myself as my eyes slowly began to close.

After Sharpay left the room I could never manage to get back to sleep consistently, but I didn't want to disturb her anymore so I stayed up the rest of the night checking facebook on my laptop and got a head start on getting ready for school early the next morning. I didn't say too much to Sharpay or anyone else at home for that matter. Since I was already up and ready, I just stayed in my room and laid on the bed, until Sharpay called for me to leave with her.

She was pretty surprised that it didn't take her screeching for me to get me downstairs, like it normally did. I left my room with my messenger bag the first time she called for me. The ride to school was pretty silent too. Sharpay asked me a few questions about the upcoming musical, or some new gossip, but I responded with a short answer and then the ride went back to silence.

We finally arrived to school about ten minutes early, and I looked at the school like I did every school day. Today, however, I shuddered remembering my nightmare the night before. For some reason walking in the East High hallways bothered me, despite all the people that would be there.

"Ryan? Are you coming?" Sharpay asked, as I was snapped out of my thoughts. I had been staring at the school and didn't realize I was still sitting in the car looking at the school while Sharpay was out of the car.

"Uhh….yeah. Sorry, Shar," I said as I grabbed my stuff and quickly got out of the car and followed Sharpay into school. I hated school so much. I used to love it, but ever since that god awful day, nothing's been the same. Everyone treats us all differently now, especially me. Half of the people who didn't know I existed now all pity me and feel sorry for me, and the others that picked on me, now just have more ammunition. Of course they don't do it to my face, because I have Sharpay, Troy, Chad, and everyone, but I know it goes on.

A few more minutes passed while we were walking to the door, and I continued to stay buried in thought. Sharpay was talking to me, I assume, but I wasn't really listening. After a couple more seconds, we reached the door and Sharpay entered in her usual dramatic fashion.

As we made our way down the halls, I heard the usual whispers, but also ignored them like usual. Despite how different everything was, I was an Evans and I couldn't seem bothered. It was true that the act was definitely taking it's toll on me, but I refused to let it show.

I finally reached my locker and briefly parted with Sharpay in order to retrieve my books. We silently agreed to meet at her locker before homeroom, like normal. She continued down the hall and I slowly opened my locker and started unpacking some books out of my messenger bag. After I got all my books I closed my locker and jumped when I saw Chad leaning against the locker looking at me.

"Jeez!!" I said as I backed away from him a little bit. "You scared me."

"Sorry, Ry. I didn't mean to. Your sister said you were still here and wanted to know 'what was taking so long'," he said as he imitated her voice, causing me to laugh a little bit.

"It's ok. So I missed not hanging out with you last night. I was bored to death."

"So was I!! I would much rather have been with you as opposed to baby sitting my little brothers. Trust me," he said as he winked and grinned.

My relationship with Chad was probably the one thing that made school bearable, besides my friends. The one good thing that came out of our experience was that we realized how crazy we were about each other. However, on the flipside the experience made it really hard for me to be as close and open with him as I wanted to be, but the great thing about him was he understood that.

We weren't very public about our relationship. I knew he wasn't ready yet for anybody besides his close friends and family to know about us. He definitely didn't need all that stress and attention on top of everything else that had happened. And he would probably get nothing but stress from the majority of the student body if they knew about him being gay, let alone him in a relationship with me.

We continued talking a few more minutes, before Troy came up to us.

"What's up man?" he said to Chad as he playfully shoved him into the locker. "Hey Ryan, how are you buddy?" he said as he turned to me.

"I'm ok, I guess. I'd be better if I wasn't at school," I joked.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man. Hey! Speaking of school, did you hear there's some new kid in our class?" Troy asked us.

"No," Chad and I replied together. "What's the kid's name?" Chad asked.

"I don't know, but Darbus said I should be in class to make him feel welcome. Whatever that means," he said rolling his eyes.

"Hey! Speaking of you talking, I want to talk too," Chad replied smartly, causing me to laugh hysterically. It was hilarious watching Troy's face show a pure look of disgust.

"Are you busy after school, Ryan?"

"Yea, I have stupid counseling again today," I said a little embarrassed.

"Dude, don't be embarrassed," Troy said. "Gabriella had to go too and…"

"Yea and so did I," Chad said quickly as he rubbed my shoulder.

"Yea, but you two didn't have to go as long as I do. It's like they think I'm a freaking psycho or something. I'm fine and…"

"Ryan….." Chad said as he looked at me with those knowing and understanding eyes.

"I'm ok. Sure they were sick, twisted psychos, but who cares?? If I say that I'm….." I said getting angry, before Chad quickly interrupted.

"Let's just not worry about it, ok. How about if I take you after school, and then we go see a movie?"

"Okay, that sounds good."

"Good." Chad said as I closed my locker and the three of us headed down the hallway. I looked toward the far end of the hallway and saw Sharpay walking towards us.

"Ryan, what took you? I was waiting literally all day and…"

"Oh no, how terrible! Heaven forbid you wait for two seconds!" Chad said sarcastically.

"Watch it Danforth or I'll send you to a place where even your hair…."

"Save it princess. If you think…"

"Here they go again, Troy. Maybe we should go ahead to homeroom and leave the children to bicker," I suggested while rolling my eyes.

"Sounds good to me," he said as we walked off and headed to homeroom leaving Chad and Sharpay snapping at each other.

Chad's POV:

Sharpay and I continued to fuss and fight until Troy and Ryan started to walk away. Once they were out of sight and gone completely we toned down our little act.

"Okay in all seriousness, Sharpay. Was he okay last night? How did he sleep?"

"Relax, Danforth, and I'll tell you. He woke me up a little after one. He was screaming and yelling. When I walked in, he was covered in sweat and was crying, again."

"I just don't get why he keeps saying he's fine, though. He acts like the nightmares are just coincidental. I hope he knows he can talk to me because…"

"Chad. Calm down. He knows, just give him some time. For some reason he's always felt like he has to be really strong and there for others, but he'll open up some more. Just give him time."

"Okay, well thanks for keeping me updated……ice princess," I added with a smirk.

"No problem, mop head. You treat my brother great and you're a good guy. Just make sure it stays like that or….."

"I know, I know. Or you'll have me sent to a country that's so remote even the CIA can't find me. You know people. Got it," I said as I laughed. "But now we might need to get to class."

"Well, duh," she finished. And with that she spun around and her heels went clicking to homeroom, leaving me in the dust.

"Jeez. Wait up, ice queen!" I yelled after her.

Ryan's POV:

After we got to homeroom, Troy and I took our seats. Three more minutes passed before Chad and Sharpay finally entered, and I rolled my eyes as both of them took their seats on opposite sides of me. I turned over and just looked at Chad with a fake look of disgust.

"What??" he said innocently.

"Nice arguments…….real cute."

"You know you think I'm sexy when I argue," he laughed.

"Yea, about as sexy as a three year old can be," I said as I stuck out my tongue.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm…." he started before being interrupted by Mrs. Darbus who walked in the room.

"Quiet class. I apologize for my tardiness, but I was walking out new student here. We have a new student who is joining us today." She looked outside the door and motioned for whoever was out there come in. My eyes grew wide and my jaw drop when I saw who walked in the room. "Class I'd like you to meet Kyle Robertson."

A/N: Reviews are welcome and much appreciated! Enjoy!