Author's Note: I am just so happy today that classes are suspended yet again for this terrible storm… emphasis on the "TERRIBLE"…it's not even raining! I just really want to go to school, although I don't want to study…you get what I mean?

P.S. Uh dude, pasensya at nakasulat ako ng ganito, pero nakikining ako sa sountrack so medyo eto yung nasa isip ko ngayon.

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan was walking down the empty hallways, holding Sharpay's math homework in one hand, and his in the other. She had told him to get it for her, and he couldn't do anything else but follow. It was Sharpay, after all, his sister, the ice princess. What she wants, she gets…and right now, she wants her homework done without "breaking a nail".

A soft sound of a piano being played filled the air.

"It's hard to believe that I couldn't see…that you were always there beside me…"

It sounded like a boy, possibly one more student auditioning for a part in the musicale. Although, he didn't sound like anyone Ryan knew. Maybe he was a new student…although that was very unlikely, since he knew everyone and anyone who had the talent to sing…and there was no one else in this school willing, not to mention, having the talent, to join the musicale…of course, other than him and his sister. They starred in all the school's musicales and there was no one there who could take them out of that position.

Troy Bolton. That was his first thought, but he quickly dismissed it. Troy was a basketball player, not a singer- not to mention his friends wouldn't approve of him joining the musicale and leaving the basketball team. The game was in one week, after all.

Although, he was the only one who seemed to be interested in joining. He would often catch the "great Troy Bolton" staring at the audition sheet.

He kept it in his mind that it WAS Troy Bolton, at least, for the mean time, since he really had no idea who was singing.

"Thought I was alone, with no one to hold…"

That one sounded like a girl…surprisingly, she sounded better than Sharpay... a LOT better than Sharpay. She sounded like an angel. A thought shot though his mind: Gabriella Montez. The new, possibly Puerto Rican, student in the campus. Nobody other than the geeks knew her very well. Although, she was often seen with that Troy Bolton.

Ryan felt his heart leap when he heard the two voices harmonize.

"But you were always right beside me…This feeling's like no other…"

For a millisecond, he felt a hint of jealousy. All he was stuck with when he would sing was his sister, and that boy…whoever he was… had Gabriella Montez. He didn't know her very well, although he wished he did. She seemed so innocent, not to mention, pretty. Plus, if the one singing right now really was her, then she had the talent.

Although he and his sister often sang catchy songs and extravagant performances, and although Gabriella had a voice of an angel, perfect for the simpler performance, how he wished that they would be able to connect, through music…no matter how different their worlds are.

"…I want you to know…"

He wanted so badly to be singing with her at that exact moment, no one to tell them that he belonged with his sister, and she belonged with the geeks.

No one to take her away, no one to boss him around.

"I've never had someone…That knows me like you do…The way you do…And I never had someone as good for me as you…"

That was what he loved so much about the music. Being able to be anyone but yourself... and no one would really care about it. Singing changed people, brought people together…and through the years of having Sharpay as his partner, he had almost forgotten that.

"No one like you…"

How he tried so hard to reach everyone else's expectation, not to mention, Sharpay's wants.

He wanted to sing with that Gabriella so much because they didn't know each other, and hopefully, singing would bring them together…together as two different people, bonded by the harmonizing of voices, and soft tune of the piano...

"So lonely before…"

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"CALLBACKS!" His sister screeched in that high, unnerving tone. She fanned herself with her hands, as if it was impossible that anyone in the school could be as good as them, as to cause the callbacks. No one even auditioned against them.

Ryan recalled the day before, the voices in the auditorium.

He read the newsletter out loud, pausing right before he read the names of the pair after them.

"…Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez…"

He WAS right. It WAS them.

He remembered their voices echoing, filling the empty hallways as silent whispers…the last line…

"I finally found…What I've been looking for…"

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Author's Note: I know Ryan was a bit OOC, but I really don't want to write a Troyella. There are enough of those in