Ping. Ping Ping.
Troy Bolton sat, listening to the loud ping of Ms. Darbus' piano. Though he heard the sound, his brain wouldn't quite let him register what he was hearing.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
"Mr. Bolton!"
Troy sprang up at the sound of Ms. Darbus' stern shout.
"Yes, Ms. Darbus?"
"That's an E Bolton!" She directed, plucking the note once again.
"Right," Troy said, lifting his vocal pitch to match that of the piano. Though it was his third musical production at East High, Troy still was somewhat clueless on what Ms. Darbus meant when she bellowed what notes to sing.
"Alright! Seeing as some of us obviously haven't been practicing our music on our own time, we shall be splitting up for the rest of the practice," Ms. Darbus said, highly annoyed.
'Great,' Troy thought, 'now I'm going to be even MORE lost because I'll have to work with Sharpay.'
Troy and Sharpay shared what was considered the most important song in the entire show, and because of this, Ms. Darbus always had them working together whenever she could. Sharpay was more than happy to work along with Troy, and every time they did she made more than obvious advances on him. He diverted her as much as he possibly could. They rarely accomplished anything.
It had been a while since he and Gabriella had broken up, and Troy had gone through a lot emotionally since then. They were on excellent terms, always hanging out and working together on school projects. It was not his relationship with Gabriella that troubled him, however, but more his want of a relationship in general.
He noticed that, while many girls around school obviously flirted with him, he felt little to no attraction towards any of them. Why was this?
He quickly regained his train of thought at Ms. Darbus' next words.
"Bolton and Evans!" She pointed.
'No surprise there.' He thought, until he noticed where she was pointing. He followed the direction of her finger and saw she was not pointing at Sharpay, but at Ryan.
Troy's heart leapt. Though it was true that he and Ryan shared only a small song, and it was not one of Troy's favorites, he felt oddly enthralled at the prospect of working with Ryan. Everyone got up and went with their respective song members. He caught a glimpse of Gabriella and Kelsey heading off with Sharpay, both looking miserable. He wanted to feel bad for them, but was too busy feeling excited for himself. Ryan rose from his chair and approached Troy.
"Hey!" Troy smiled, nodding.
"Hi!" Ryan said, grinning, "So, you wanna find a practice room?"
"Yeah!" Troy replied, heading towards the far side of the stage. They reached a row of wooden doors, and Troy opened the one furthest to the right. He opened the door to find a small, soundproof room with a piano and piano bench inside. He held the door for Ryan and followed him in.
"So, I hate to say it, but I really don't like this song very much," Ryan admitted, placing his libretto on the music stand and sitting down on the bench.
"Yeah, me either, but we'll make it awesome!" Troy added, sitting next to Ryan on the bench. Ryan grinned.
They ran through the song, trying their best to make the poorly written harmonies blend nicely. Eventually, they found themselves singing a song that could only be described as soothing.
"That sounds so good!" Troy said, his eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, it really does!" Ryan agreed. They both stood up from the bench, looking down to make sure their knees didn't hit the piano. When they looked up, their faces were mere inches apart. After a moment of silence, Troy turned around and opened the door.
They exited the practice room to see that they were the only ones left in the auditorium. The lights had been turned off, and practice had ended an hour ago.
"Wow," Ryan said, his eyes widening, "We totally lost track of the time. I guess time flies when one's having fun." He shot a warm look at Troy, and then left the dark room.
Troy stood their motionless for about five minutes. What had just happened? Nothing. Or was it? He enjoyed the last three or so hours practicing with Ryan more than he had ever had practicing with anyone else for anything, including basketball.
His mind kept jumping to the moment where he and Ryan's faces were so close. It made a chill go down his spine. What did this mean? Was he not attracted to any girl who liked him, but attracted to Ryan, a guy? The thought consumed him. Was he gay? Was he bi? He wasn't sure.
But one thing was for sure, he left practice that day smiling.