A/N: OMG. Hi, guys. How are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm better than fine, because I'm posting this! Yays! Anyway, you're supposed to be confused, but, please, by all means leave me a review saying so, even though everyone short of my mom and possibly my sister will be. I present to you the prologue to my new story. :) Oh, and the rest of the story will be in Troy's point of view, this is just a weird prologue telling what happens the night before the story starts. I hope I haven't said too much.


Little Maddie Bolton, age 9, checked to make sure her bedroom door was locked for the eighth time before crawling into her closet and shutting that door too. She took the cell phone from her pocket that she'd bought a couple months earlier for this express purpose. She dialed ten digits and carefully held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" whispered the intended answerer.

"Hey," she whispered back. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. What about you?"

"Oh, every day's the same. How's Santa Fe?"

"Same as usual. Dad sold the restaurant a couple weeks ago, but he signed the papers today."

"Oh, cool. You think he might come back soon?"

"If he was, do you think we'd have to talk like this?"

"Someday, I swear, I'm gonna go downstairs and say 'Mom, Dad, I call Chris every Friday night at 8:30 while you're watching TV. Even though I'm not supposed to.'," Maddie declared.

"I don't think my dad cares. Or, he wouldn't if he knew you knew Mom isn't your real mom," Chris replied.

"Sharpay would flip if she knew I knew that."

"So, you ready to do this?"

"May as well. Why today?"

"Because you were conceived ten years ago last night. You don't want to mess up and make it so you don't exist," Chris stated logically.

"What about you?" Maddie asked. "You're my best friend, and practically like a brother to me. I couldn't live without you."

"Don't worry. This won't affect me. I promise. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Maddie took a deep breath and lit the lighter she'd also had in her pocket and used it to light the candle on the floor of the large walk-in closet she was sitting in. "Got your candle lit?"

"Yep."

"This had better work."

"It'll work. This girl in my class read it in a book, and she says it works."

"Okay, okay."

"Now, who do you want this to affect?" Chris asked in an official tone.

"My dad. Troy David Bolton," Maddie replied clearly.

"And the length?"

"Ten years."

"Why?"

"Because this isn't what he wanted for himself. And he's my dad. I want him to be happy."

"And this will make him happy?"

"More than anything else."

"Then Troy Bolton is 17…going on 28." There was a silence but for the eerie chill and slight draft blowing out the candle, coming from nowhere in the completely enclosed closet.

"Did your candle just blow out?" Maddie whispered.

"Yeah. Yours?"

"Yeah. This is scary."

"I'm cold," Chris said. Maddie shivered.

"Me too."

"Well, I think it worked. You'll know tomorrow. Call me at 7:30, okay?"

"Okay. My parents are going to a party, so we can talk more."

"See if you can talk the guys into bringing you with them when they come up next weekend."

"They guys are coming up?" Maddie asked.

"Yeah. Dad bought a TV. I miss you."

"I miss you too."

"Bye."

"Bye." Maddie hung up her phone and sighed. Chris could be very frustrating sometimes. He was convinced that this silly second grade magic worked. And to his credit, it was spooky. But Maddie had the intelligence of her mother – her real mother, not Sharpay – and she knew magic was just a whole bunch of luck interspersed with random chance.

Maddie opened the door from her closet into her room and crawled out, carefully shutting the door behind her. She went over to the safe she'd found in the wall of her room when she was six and placed the phone, lighter, and candle – all things she wasn't supposed to have – inside it and closed the door securely. After replacing the dresser very quietly, she climbed into bed. It was a risky plan, but if it worked, it would solve the problem. The problem that was becoming more and more like a black hole type vortex thing everyday. But now all would be better. Assuming second grade magic worked when cast by third graders.


Across town, Chuckie Brown, age 27, was doodling in his notebook, waiting for his plane to board. His boyfriend of…a really long time, had bought him tickets to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, which was tomorrow. And it didn't really bother him that going to Ireland meant missing Troy's birthday. Except for it did.

"What'cha doing?" Justin asked, plopping into the seat next to him.

"Nothing," Chuckie said, trying to flip his notebook closed, but Justin had seen.

"Lyrics again? What song is it this time?"

"Nothing," Chuckie mumbled, beginning to doodle on the front cover. But Justin was stronger than him (it had something to do with him being two years older), and flipped the notebook back open to the right page.

"One Wish by Ray J?" Justin asked, rolling his eyes. "That song is so old. What are you doing, anyway?"

"Writing a letter. Sort of," Chuckie replied. In truth, he was drafting the apologetic email he'd have to write to Troy about being in Ireland. Justin just laughed to himself, and licked some more ice cream off his ice cream cone.

Troy. Justin gave me tickets to

No. Wrong.

Troy, I'm in Ireland. And it's just your too bad that my boyfriend is cooler than you.

Nope. Wrong.

Hey, Troy. Sorry I missed your birthday, Justin surprised me with tickets to Ireland for St. Patty's Day.

Geez, generic.

If I had one wish we would be best friends
Love would never end it would just begin
If I had one wish you would be my boo
Promise to love you trust me I'll trust you

Pointless. He decided to use the generic one, but the plane began to board.

"C'mon, Chucks, let's go. Tomorrow morning, which is really tomorrow afternoon we'll be in Ireland," Justin said, pulling Chuckie out of his chair.

"Mhm," Chuckie grunted. "Land of whiskey and love. I got it."

"You don't want to go?" Justin asked.

"No, of course I do."

"You don't want to go with me?"

"Of course I do. I'll just miss home is all. We haven't taken a trip since–"

"Yeah, I know. They'll be fine. Kelsi's really good with them, and Toni promised to look in while we were away," Justin said. Toni was Justin's younger sister. She was about Dylan Bolton's age, 24.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want something bad to happen while we're not here."

"Nothing bad will happen. I promise you," Justin said. Chuckie gave up protesting and boarded the plane.


Ryan Evans, also age 27, was sitting in the living room that he liked to refer to as his own, since he paid for it, but it would never really belong to him.

"Okay, so go back," Ryan said. "Drew's coming this weekend?"

"No, next weekend," Gabriella replied. "So there's no excuse for you not coming to Chad's party tomorrow night."

"Besides the fact that it's actually Troy's party at Chad's house, and that Troy will be there?" Ryan said.

"You can't avoid him forever," Gabriella said. "Maybe you'll get really lucky and he'll decide to be civil."

"Yeah, right," Ryan said. "If anyone should be angry, you'd think it would be me."

"He has a right to be angry to," Gabriella said.

"Whatever," Ryan said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest.

"So, it's just us this weekend?"

"I should hope so. I don't know how many more unexpected visitors we can take."

"If no one's coming over, we really should get the house cleaned. It's been a while since we had it done." Ryan nodded his approval of this plan.

"I've been meaning to talk to Kelsi about the next musical, anyway."

"Isn't it going to be RENT?"

"Yep. Finally convinced the theater to splurge on the rights. It's gonna be so awesome. You should try out."

"Maybe I will."

"You'd make a great Mimi," Ryan teased.

"Thanks, Ryan. That's exactly what every girl wants to hear," Gabriella replied sardonically.

"I'm just saying. We'd have a lot of fun…doing it together." Gabriella giggled. "Gabriella, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Oh, like you didn't go there," she replied. Ryan smiled.

"Okay, I did, but that's so not what I meant."

"I should hope not. I have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, so did I," Ryan muttered.

"Ryan. Let it go. That was ten years ago."

"I know. I know. I'm not even mad. About that."

"Give it up already. Troy's a big boy and he can do whoever he wants."

"Aren't we a little old for such humor?"

"Never. But you're still coming to the party tomorrow night."

"Over my dead body."


Nick Danforth, age 5, ran around his living room, annoying his parents very much.

"Nicholas Danforth, if you don't stop running around his living room this instant," his father began.

"Chad," Taylor scolded.

"Fine. Nick, if you go to bed right now, I'll let you go to the Cross's tomorrow night," Chad bribed.

"Really?" Nick asked, immediately ceasing his running.

"Yes," Chad said. "Now get to bed." Nick ran out of the living room. "I thought he'd never go."

"He's just going through a phase," Taylor said. "Ashley and Zac are having it too. Doesn't really affect Sharpay that much."

"If she spent more time with her kids it would," Chad replied. "She's almost worse than her own parents. And you know she would be if Troy didn't keep her grounded. All that money, they could fly to Tahiti every other day and still not spend it all before they die."

"Don't be like that. You know she counts her blessings every day," Taylor said. She was poring over some important legal documents that needed her approval. Her dream of becoming the president of the United States of America not yet crushed, she was an important lawyer for civil and equal rights campaigns for minorities, especially those of gender, race, or sexual orientation. In other words, she fought for equal rights. It didn't really hurt things that she was a state senator in New Mexico and that she was changing laws as fast as she could. President was a reachable goal.

"She doesn't have any blessings," Chad said. He was watching a basketball game on TV. After living out his dream of playing hoops, he'd gone to medical school and become an important doctor. He had his own private practice, but helped out the needy and monetarily inconvenienced at the hospital quite frequently. "She's like Satan."

"Chad," Taylor reprimanded again. "You know she has plenty."

"Yeah, the first of which being that Ryan hasn't killed her yet." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Ryan would never kill his own sister. He's too nice. I don't think he'd kill anyone."

"You've obviously never seen him angry."

"I have, actually. I still don't think he'd kill anyone. Did you order the cake for Troy's party?"

"Yeah. I'll pick it up tomorrow when I go to get the alcohol and beers." Taylor smiled.

"Good plan. Maybe we can convince Nick he really wants to decorate."

"Maybe we can convince Troy he doesn't want it to be decorated."

"That sounds better actually."


Jason Cross, also, unbelievably, age 27, was sitting in a recliner in his living room, also, unbelievably, watching the same basketball game. He was also looking over some important business documents.

"Kels, what does this one mean?" Jason asked, pointing at a word on the page.

"I told you to just hire an accountant to do the taxes," Kelsi said. "I don't know what it means."

"I don't know any accountants," Jason said. "That's why I'm doing it."

"Get H&R Block," Holly Brown, age 6, suggested. She was sitting on the rug in front of the TV. "They're the people." Jason blinked in her direction, then found his brain again.

"Yeah, okay," he said. He piled all the papers again. "Who's winning?"

"The Lakers," Holly said. "Duh."

"Duh," her brother, Chase, age almost 3, added.

"Kels, did you–" Jason began.

"Toni is babysitting tomorrow night for the party," Kelsi replied to the unasked question. She was sitting at the piano in the corner of the living room, plinking out some new song.

"Aunt Toni's coming? Excellent," Holly exclaimed. "Give me five." Chase slapped her hand. "Awesome."

"Yes," Kelsi said. "She's going to help us babysit while Chuckie and Justin are in Ireland."

"I want to go to Ireland," Holly said. "They have the coolest stuff there."

"Like what?" Chase asked.

"Green beer," Holly said.

"Holly!" Kelsi scolded. "Don't give your brother ideas."

"They do have green beer there," Jason said. "I saw it on the Travel Channel."

"And I was helping," Holly added. "Chase lost the remote."

"Yeah, I'm sure the 35-month old lost the remote," Kelsi said. Holly sighed. She was bored.

"I can is come help with piano?" she asked.

"Yes. And I told you not to talk like that," Kelsi said. Holly went over to the piano and started plinking out the melody line for her favorite of all Kelsi's songs, You Are The Music In Me.


Troy Bolton, age 27 (for a couple more hours), climbed into his bed.

"Oh, crap," Sharpay exclaimed from the bathroom.

"What?" Troy asked.

"I forgot to make sure the nanny is on for tomorrow night," Sharpay said. There was a pause and a spitting noise, and then her voice came more clearly. "I'll do it in the morning."

"Uh-huh," Troy said sleepily.

"And we have to have lunch with your parents," Sharpay said. "Dylan and Becca are going to be there too. So you should be on your best behavior."

"Why do I care how I act around Dylan and Becca?" Troy asked. Sharpay rolled her eyes and walked into the bedroom.

"Because your parents are going to be there. It's like a big reunion," Sharpay said. "We'll probably end up taking the kids to that. I'm pretty sure your sister said you should wear the tie she got you for Christmas. And I think I remember Maddie saying something about a group project that they had to do together."

"It's nice that Maddie and Jenny can be friends," Troy mumbled. "Shush. I'm sleeping." Sharpay rolled her eyes and climbed into bed as well.

Troy rolled over trying to get comfortable. Little did he know why he was so sleepy all of a sudden. His whole life was about to change. And he wouldn't even remember…because he was, after all, 17 going on 28.


–roll Star Wars like credits–

17 Going on 28?
The sequel to the Board of Secrets
A High School Musical fanfiction by samlover14

Coming soon to the internet near you.

Critics rave about the third installment of this saga.

"A+" says mother.

"Hilarious!" says roommate.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?" asks father.

"I'm so confused," says grandmother, "I thought Troy was with Gabriella…"

"Why do you try to make me out as the bad guy?" asks Chuckie. "You don't know the half of my life."

"Shush," says Samantha. "Just read the story."


A/N: The newest Board of Secrets story is here! Please read and review. :D

Samantha.

PS, LOL, everyone actually did say that. Except Chuckie. Because he doesn't exist. But my mother thought that critics bit was the funniest part of the story. I really hope she's wrong.